Mid-January Blah

It's cold.  We haven't been outside, other than to and from the vehicle, since last weekend when we briefly went ice-fishing, even though it really was too cold for that too.  Today I decided I needed to pull out two of the activity books I have that are full of ideas for "unplugged" play.  You would think I could come up with some of these things on my own as they are not that in-depth or off the wall - such as playing "Restaurant" - but I get in a rut and become uninspired to do anything but play with the toys that are scattered in the living room.  It is time to branch out a bit, add some variety and maybe even some learning into our daily play.  I just flipped through the books today, marking pages, and hopefully tomorrow when we are stuck inside all day again, we can try "Letter Scramble", making our own modelling clay, or even paper mache, if I feel like facing the mess that may result!  Good luck to anyone else feeling cabin fever during this mid-January cold snap and perhaps I'll have some art projects to post about next time. 

Books, Books, and More Books

I have been an absolute reading fiend lately.  Since early December I have finished reading 7 novels.  Part of the reason for my all-consuming obsession is that I was trying to reach my goal of reading 24 books last year.  That may not be a big amount for many, but two books a month for me means I generally have to read frequently during nap-times and after the kids' bedtime, with housework often suffering.  I have been keeping track of the books I read during a year since 2005; just one of those silly things I like to keep track of with a list.  The most I had read previous to last year was 22 so the goal of 24 seemed relatively attainable.

It would have been if I had not gotten behind on the plan of two novels per month back in May.  And it was my own fault.  I chose "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Bronte as our book club selection for the month because I have never read it and I wanted to read a classic.  Well, I really got bogged down in it and shamefully did not even finish it for the meeting date.  I wasn't reading another novel at the time, as I often have two on the go, and I tried after the meeting to keep at it and get it finished.  I failed to finish it then and still have it sitting on my nightstand (at the bottom of the piles!), with great intentions of finishing it "someday".  That seemed to set me back for the rest of the year, along with the wonderful summer weather that beckoned me outside rather than curled up with a book.  I had to read a lot in the last few months of 2010 to try and pull off my goal.

I did manage to get 24 novels read, with a little cheating.  On December 31st I finished reading "The Long Winter" by Laura Ingalls Wilder which I have been reading aloud to Jonathan at bedtime and which we were about two thirds done.  I suppose it is not really cheating as I did read all of the book.  For that matter, I could also count in my tally for 2010 the first four books in the Little House series which I read to Jonathan.  I guess because they are considered juvenile fiction I did not really want to count them, but in the end I did.

In case anyone is at all interested, here is a list of the books I read, an asterisk noting which were for book club:

Birding on Borrowed Time - Phoebe Snetsinger

Heaven's Keep - William Kent Krueger

The Story of Forgetting - Stefan Merrill Block

Three Cups of Tea - Greg Mortensen and Davic Oliver Relin*

Fieldwork - Mischa Berlinski

The Alphabet Sisters - Monica McInerney

Abercrombie Trail - Candace Simar *

The Year of Living Biblically - A.J. Jacobs*

Staggerford - Jon Hassler *

The Next Thing on My List - Jill Smolinski*

Where Men Win Glory: The Story of Pat Tillman - Jon Kraukauer

Streiker's Bride - Robin Hardy

The Appeal - John Grishom *

Streiker's Killdeer - Robin Hardy

Half Broke Horses - Jeannette Wells

In Cod We Trust - Eric Dregni *

The Glass Castle - Jeannette Wells

The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho

Anne of Green Gables - Lucy Maud Montgomery *

The Art of Racing in the Rain - Garth Stein *

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Stieg Larsson

Rough Country - John Sandford

Room - Emma Donoghue

The Long Winter - Laura Ingalls Wilder

This year I haven't really set a goal, yet.  It would be nice to read another 24 books and considering I have already finished two novels this year, I'm off to a good start.  I think instead I would like to read mostly classics this year.  And likely I won't be whipping through them, if "Jane Eyre" is any indication.  I think I have on my Facebook page a list of "100 books you should read".  I am not sure if that is because they are actual classics per se or just noteworthy books, but I think I'll be picking a few from that list for the year.  If I read ten from that list along with my book club books, I'd be very happy with that accomplishment.

If the stacks of books around my nightstand are any indication, I will not be lacking reading material for awhile!

Winter Wonderland

The first full week of January in Ironton has been COLD.  We have had below average temperatures with nothing higher than about 18F (that's about -7C for my Canadian readers) and usually with a wind so it has never even got close to feeling like the actual air temperature.  But, being January in Minnesota, this is pretty much expected.  We haven't been able to venture outside much, and now both kids have pretty good colds, so we won't get out much in the next few days until they are feeling better. 

We received rain and then a good 6 inches of snow on December 30 so it has been extremely pretty outside.  The ice and snow covered branches are beautiful right now and the winds haven't been strong enough to knock much off.  I am struck by all the picture worthy scenes when I am driving:  willows weeping under the weight of the snow; dark pines and spruce boughs sharply contrasting with their snowy burden; picturesque snowed-in trails, all shadowy blue in the weak sunlight.  We went for a drive on New Year's Day and here are some of the sights:

Snowy roadside scenes, January 1, 2011

On January 2 the sun was shining and I took some photos of our yard from the comfortable side of the window.



Love the blue shadows on the snow!



Some sun, but not much warmth



When we did get out that day, at least the sun made it feel a bit better.  The kids played for a while, digging our snow fort and climbing the big snow piles in our yard.

       Jonathan, happy to be outside, even it is cold!

Sarah's snow angel



Frosty little cheeks!

I cannot remember what Sarah was crying about, but Mom wanted a picture taken anyway.  Yes, I know I have a tag still on my hat; it was a Christmas present and I was trying to decide if I liked the size.  A bit of the "mad trapper" look I suppose but it was warm!

Rob took a walk later that day on our property and this shows the snow down our trail.

On January 1st I always start a new year list of bird sightings.  On our drive we got a wonderful view of some Pine Grosbeaks, something I don't think I have seen while in Minnesota.  They do regularly occur here in the winter, I just haven't gone out to search for them.  I would really love to get a spotting scope and get into digi-scoping photography of birds.  For now, you'll have to believe me that those little specks ARE Pine Grosbeaks.



And we start a new "yard list" for the birds we see only in or flying over our property.  Last year's list had 53 species; in 2009 we had 58.  I am hopeful I will be able to bird a little more during spring migration to get this year's number over 60.  Starting off the 2011 yard list was a great look at our ever-present Pileated Woodpecker, attacking his favourite snag.

So it may be cold but I am thankful for the beauty of nature and experiencing this winter wonderland.



Time to Start

I've been wanting to start a blog for some time now.  The problem is finding the time.  I assume I will start out slowly and learn this whole blogging thing as I go along.  If I wait until I feel like I know what I am doing, I would never get started!

The purpose of my blog is simply to share my family's daily happenings with family, friends and loved ones near and far.  I am a regular on Facebook and manage to enter a status update a couple times a week.  But often I want to write a lot more than the 400 and some characters that the status update box allows.  So I decided I would begin a blog for that purpose.  Now I can ramble on a lot more than before, and you, dear reader, can choose to visit this blog or not.  Do not expect anything too profound or deep or inspiring - mostly it will be simple news, things that my wonderful kids are up to, what we did as a family on the weekend, maybe some photos and videos if I ever get that part figured out and such.

I have, however, off and on since 1994 been a journal writer.  I just poked around in one of the many moving boxes still lurking in our basement and dug up my first journal.  A simple coil bound notebook full of early 20-something angst - believe me, that book is NEVER going to be read by anyone!  Over the years I have kept a journal to pour out my thoughts into.  Some periods of my life I have written a lot and frequently; sometimes months and months go by without any entries.  Like now, I probably have not written anything for several months as I am too busy just living my day-to-day life.  But no matter what, and even if I never show what's written to another soul, they are still important to me.  I enjoy writing, to record momentous events and feelings, to capture the experiences I had when I did some travelling, to bitch about someone but not to their face, to have a place that is mine and mine alone to express myself.  It is a creative outlet I hope to devote more time to in the future and perhaps see if it could lead to something else.  I think this blog may be a little bit of an online journal for me now too.

So here's to a new year and trying something new!