Open Thread – Winter Wonderland
I heard the song Winter Wonderland several times today, and it seems like it ought to be Alaska’s seasonal state song. This was one of those times when it looks like someone went a little too crazy with the fake canned snow.
I was noticing the snow on the trees tonight. It looks perfect out right now. I’m hoping the forecast is off a bit, and we don’t get the Chinook winds this weekend. It will make a mess of things.
What??? Snow in GA in Nov? Yep! I woke up yesterday and thought I saw snow on the roofs of houses on the mountain in my back yard, but there was no snow where I was. Then, later, down it came. Not enough to stick, but beautiful and exciting just the same. The first snowfall is always special.
*dreaming by the fire, vicariously thrilled*
Winter Winderland (acoustic Jason Mraz)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhxGGIuGwS8
jingle all the way
(and my first “Happy Chanukah!” of the season, also, too,
but we don’t light the first candle until December 20)
thatcrowwoman
Winderland?
Wonderland.
oy
need more oatmeal
tcw
You inspired me, thatcrowwoman. I made oatmeal with dried currants and cranberries, fresh local apples, and sweet spices (cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, mace, nutmeg, and vanilla bean), and topped it with banana, extra virgin olive oil, and Himalayan salt. It was all organic, and extremely delicious, because the first ingredient is love.
Where do you buy that first ingredient? My store is all out.
Oh my gosh, that sounds delicious.
Beautiful! I love Jason Mraz.
Ha, Ha, Ha Crow Woman – I’m one up on you! Got to light the first candle on the Advent Wreath on Sunday! I do miss having kids around to open the doors on the Advent Calendar.
I’ll think of you on the 20th.
OK something is wrong here. Live near the Adirondack Park in NY. It is 50 degrees @ 7:31 am.
Yesterday was 60.
Last Wed. we got 9 inches of snow(which we missed, we were at my daughters in MA where people were out in shorts!)
Weather is definitely changing!
I mowed my lawn in a t-shirt last Saturday. It was 65 yesterday. It’s been in the 50′s and 60′s pretty consistently for the past week or so, and there is no sign of it stopping. Which is just fine with me. The longer I can keep my furnace off, the better. Heating oil prices will break the bank. To wake up in the morning and have my house be 66 degrees without the furnace is amazing.
No snow here, either. Just raw, cold rain, and crazy winds. That is fine, because I have plenty to do inside! Everyone is coming home for Christmas! We are going to have such fun! Every bedroom in the house filled, everyone cooking wonderful food, and my Mother being surrounded by her grandchildren, their spouses, and great-grands, too! Bliss! The day after Christmas, Himself and I leave for Warm for a week, and the rest of them are staying to take care of Mother’s needs in Assisted Living for us. We are blessed, we really are.
That sounds wonderful – thank you for sharing the warmth of your family!
So this is what Winter looks like. I noticed some bright yellow dandelions yesterday in my yard. Haven’t seen the white stuff for about seven months. Haven’t seen any moisture at all for about four months. Just as well.this is the most depressing time of my year. Maybe some snow will perk moi up.It is about time to start receiving gardening supply catalogs. That will make me feel gooder in a hurry.
I need to see some snow in the front yard too. Maybe I’ll begin to feel a little bit Christmas-y then. I’ll even put some Christmas music on the cd player. Of course snow means boots which I detest. Once you put them on in this part of the world, you’re wearing them outside every day until April!
I’m glad the garden catalogs cheer you up, Mike. Being a person who is naturally “at two with nature” (Woody Allen’s expression) the flower catalogs do not help me very much. My husband likes them though.
Winter Wonderland at my house:
I wonder what I forgot to get cleaned up in the yard before it got so covered up with snow that I won’t see it again until next summer.
I wonder why my dog has arthritis in the warm weather but can’t stop running and jumping now that it is below zero.
I wonder if I will manage to thaw the pipes in my little ‘extra’ house or if I will have to put up with it until thaw.
I wonder how long I can get by with only getting two new snow tires instead of the four I really needed.
I wonder how great everything is anyway, and how glad there are intelligent people out there like all of YOU.
Hugs…WfAK
love back WFAK. i too have more pain in the summer like your pup. it is as though the heat has weight. unbearable weight which makes it difficult to move and makes me want to bite something or even better someone.
Could it be that in the summer you sweat more and tend to a bit more dehydrated than in the winter? Joints work better when fully hydrated.
Bubbles are not weighed down by heat–and they last longer when it’s humid.
i drink plenty water in the summer. i love ice tea. you are exactly right London. i do sweat profusely because i don’t have a thyroid so can’t regulate my temperature naturally.i have to take a thyroid replacement and i got this hard working kidney that takes it’s job very seriously since it is the only one. honestly it is sometimes interesting to be me. i don’t let these things ruin my life i just follow the doc’s orders and have fun always making sure i have my water bottle nearby. and a snack.
i been thinking about changing my name.*Bubbles* seems to lack gravitas. it doesn’t have an authoritative ring to it it needs ‘moar sumpthin’. hmmmmm…….
Littlebird has only one kidney, also, too, but it works.
Howsabout Queen Bubbles?
Get those four snow tires. Your safety is very important. They will last you a lot of winters.
Lovely photo. I left my fall coat and scarf at the bf’s apartment Monday, and haven’t needed it yet.
I just received OWS defined by Schoolhouse Rock (and I’m too old to have been a watcher of the program; I heard about it only a couple of years ago from a friend):
http://www.care2.com/greenliving/school-house-rock-explains-occupy-wall-street-video.html
By their actions shall ye know them. Rethuglicans love to talk about America’s exceptionalism as a way to distance themselves from the saner citizens of our great nation. They pretend to be more patriotic,more loyal,more religious and more American than the rest of us. Apparently they feel that having pledged allegiance to the United States flag and the republic which it stands for wears off during the day and needs to be repeated regularly. They feel the need to force their belief in their deity on the rest of us. Most of us can’t be trusted to make our own decisions,the party of smaller government wants the government to decide for us which way our moral compasses are supposed to point-whether we agree or not. I’ll be switched with snakes if I can determine what makes America exceptional to Rethuglican’s eyes because they appear to only support the top 1% of our citizenry. Must be they believe we are all created equal,except for the bottom 99%.
So far no snow here in Southern Iowa. O.k. by me. I don’t look forward to seeing the bill from Alliant Engery.
I am knitting like crazy—-afghan, shawls, scarves and wine bottle cozies.
Hopefully I will have enough things to give as Christmas gifts.
As I knit, I watch the news and get upset when I hear things I don’t like that is going on in DC.
So—-I take a break from knitting and fire off letters to Sen Grassley and Sen Harkin.
the last one was this.
I hear that Congress is considering America’s first system for censoring the internet.
If true–I am wondering what is going to happen to our free speech.
I find it disturbing that so much time is wasted on taking away our feedoms, and not looking out for the American people who are without jobs and are struggling.
This is not why the people in Congress were elected.
I hope you will fight this bill when it comes up for a vote
If correct—this bill will be brought up for vote very soon. It is one of two bills that would destroy our freedoms. The other has to do with I would call—making America a police state.
What the hell are they thinking??
Here’s a very interesting take on sustainable fishing:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/28/science/earth/nature-conservancy-partners-with-california-fishermen.html?ref=science
Remember, following a link to the NY Times does NOT count toward your total free articles. You have to seek them out on your own for them to count.
just got thru mowing the yard…high winds here, and the goldurn tulip magnolia just BURIED my front yard in leaves…. ahhh grass catcher on mower and now I have LOTS of clean leaf mulch to protect my raspberries again…. just as soon as I pick the late crop off of them !!! YUM ! snow ??? what the heck is that ???
I lucked out big time this year. I have an enormous maple tree in the front but it got a bad case of black tar spot disease and started slowly losing leaves in mid-August. They fell so gradually that they either blew away (LOTS of wind this fall) or got mulched by the lawnmower. I didn’t have to rake a single bag of leaves this year!
Most years I have about 30 bags to haul down to the recycling center so they can turn them into leaf compost. Guess I’ll have to feel just a tiny bit guilty when I go collect some free compost next spring, since I didn’t contribute any leaves myself!
Next time substitute dollar bills for leaves and I will personally pick them up for mulch. My bank account needs lots of organic stuff. It looks rather sickly.
I think I just watched the worst movie I’ve ever seen.
As an interpreter for the deaf, I always try to prep ahead of time when I have to interpret any kind of performance…concert, play, movie, etc. Tonight I watched a movie that some of my students will be watching tomorrow, and I think I should not only get paid for my time, but should get hazard pay for the last couple of hours!
I never imagined I could actually find a movie based on the nutcracker story offensive, but this was absolutely horrific. I could get past the idea that the main character’s Uncle was actually Albert Einstein (singing a catchy little tune about relativity…I kid you not!), but the traditional Nutcracker dancing mice being turned into a marching Nazi rat army was too much. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the rats collected children’s toys and burned them in a giant furnace with several shots of smokestacks belching thick, black smoke. Yes folks, Nazis and smoke-belching smokestacks in the Nutcracker! Seriously???
The Rat King looked like a reject from a werewolf horror movie, with a face that CGI-transformed into something that will give ME nightmares, no less my 8-year-old students! And oh yeah, he also ripped the head off of a child. I will admit that he DID put it back on, but only after playing catch with it. Really.
This movie was so bizarre that I went online to see if Tim Burton had anything to do with it. He didn’t. Apparently, it cost 90 million to produce but made less than $200,000. I, for one, am surprised it made that much! The name of the movie was “Nutcracker: The Untold Story” (also available in 3D!). For the sake of all human beings on the planet, it should definitely have remained UNtold! It was so bad that I watched the last 1/3 in fast forward so I could get an idea of the plot as quickly and with as little pain as possible.
And now I have to sit through the entire thing again tomorrow. I’ll need wine…LOTS of wine…tomorrow night!
Why in the world are 8 yr olds going to see this film?
Perhaps this is the new pepper spray?
Who runs your school-the Marquis de Sade?
that’s just awful. although i have to say that your review was wonderful and hysterical. poor Leenie. i am sending you a vodka martini. shaken not stirred and a plate of smoked fish and creme fraiche.
Good job with the canned snow.