It's been a while since I last wrote. Thank you Sarah for reminding me of my blog, and how you visit us from afar via our blog!
And before I get caught up in the huge annual conference at work (taking place at the end of March), I wanted to post some photos and writings.
Especially because several friends and family have phoned us over the weekend to find out how we survived our first blizzard! More about that later on.
We returned home at the end of September from an 18-day vacation on the West Coast. All was fine with our cat, and the house, but outside, there was a huge hole in the pavement (sidewalk). Apparently there was a 20" wide water main going straight under our house, and a house in Baltimore had been "blown up" by a similarly large water main underneath the house when the pipe burst at full force. So the DC municipality had decided to reroute the water main by taking it at right angles around our house and the street corner just 20 yards away. In the process, the contractors broke the wall of our front flower bed at street level, and half of the bed was eventually removed, while they got on with their pipe-laying. This whole exercise took about FOUR MONTHS! But they came and rebuilt our front flower bed wall, even filled the bed with new earth, and we got a whole new sidewalk once the pipe was laid and stabilized.
Here are a few photos that Walter took of the operation:
In November I got a call from my step-brother Sean, inviting me and Walter to his home in the English countryside for Christmas hols. Would have been nice, but Walter and I were welcoming our two youngest grandchildren for the week of Christmas. We couldn't travel to England. Then I had an idea: my step-mother Rita had told me that she would be making a dinner party for her xxth birthday, including Sean and his wife Julia. Suddenly it seemed a nice possibility to travel and surprise Rita for her birthday, and I'd visit with Sean and Julia before coming up to London with them for Rita's dinner party. They liked that idea. Only I travelled. Walter stayed home to look after our cat. Besides which, it really was a whirlwind visit of five days: two with Sean and Julia, one with Rita, one with my sister Kate, and one with my friend Sandra, then back on the plane home.
I was very happy to take that time to visit with Sean and Julia, as Walter and I had been unable to travel to the UK for their wedding in May 2009 (it was my annual policy conference, and therefore the one time of the year when I could choose between working and being fired!).
And so very early Thursday morning, November 19, Sean was at Heathrow airport to pick me up and bring me to their lovely cottage overlooking green fields as far as the eye could see. Such a difference to the fast pace of Washington and city life!!
No sooner did I put my suitcase down at their cottage than Sean had to go to work. Julia was already at work. So I took a train into London and walked around and visited the Tate Gallery. My one little chance of being back in my home city. The evening was spent with Sean and Julia, as was the next evening, just getting to know each other a little better, after I'd been away from London and Sean for so many years, and meeting Julia this time around for just the second time. It was a short but rewarding time with them.
On the Saturday morning, Julia and Sean had to transfer Julia's horse Oliver to temporary stables while Oliver's permanent stables were being refurbished. Sean drove the horse box with all the tack to the new stables, while Julia and others rode their horses along the road to the new place. A few pictures for you:
Sean driving the horsebox, with the help of a little stable mate...
our route following the horses...
stopping for drinks at the all important local pub...
Julia and Sean...
My favourite photo of Olly...
the "temporary" stables...
me, Sean and Julia...
It was so nice to be outside, relaxed, surrounded by such beautiful horses.
Later on Saturday, we and a couple of friends, got in a taxi in absolutely torrential rain and made it up to London for Rita's dinner.
Although we were pretty late in the rain, our exuberant spirits were not dampened...
The following day I went over to spend some time with Kate. I was able to see her refurbished flat at last, and we managed to catch up a bit, and have a good Thai supper around the corner from her place! Something to warm us both up, as the weather continued to be lousy and cold. The following day I crossed London to stay over with Sandra and David. We took a beautiful walk along the Thames at the end of the day. It was so peaceful there... the houseboats, the many swans, the grounds of Hampton Court alongside of us, and I even spotted a wild rabbit.
My five day whistle stop tour was over too quickly, but I was happy to get back to Walter and Moët. Shortly after my return, I was busy with what I'd started earlier in the year: organizing a bingo evening at our shul, the proceeds from which helped some elderly people locally with some items on their wishlists for the holiday season. Sadly, the bingo evening on December 4 was a stormy evening, and there were other activities going on at the same time, so we didn't get as many people to the game as we had planned, but we still made a respectable profit, and had some fun doing it!
And so December was upon us, and finally Daniel and Jennifer's visit from California. Walter had planned a full and exciting week: the musical "Young Frankenstein" at the Kennedy Centre, a tour of Ford Theatre where Abe Lincoln was assassinated, an evening tour of the National Zoo's animal houses and all sorts of lights in configurations of dolphins, palm trees, deer, Christmas trees, stars, flamingos, etc. Pretty spectacular. Then a visit to the Air and Space Museum, and the Natural History Museum, ending with an IMAX version of A Night at the Museum II. We visited a live butterfly exhibit. Saw a stupid movie in a local cinema, and saw a couple of movies on TV at home. Walter taught both kids how to make Challah.
But just before they arrived, we had a big snowstorm, and roads were pretty bad for a while. I managed to get out and take some photos of the snow in our area:
collecting Daniel and Jennifer from Dulles Airport:
from the live butterfly exhibit:
From the zoo animals in the evening, after closing...
the youngest gorilla and her mama...
another gorilla... having wrapped himself up in his bedsheet...!
close-up of two(?) snakeskins and one head!
close-up of iguana's skin...
a few of the 'zoo lights'...
Walter's challah baking lesson:
Around this time a huge flock of robins (or in this case, I'd say a flock of huge robins, as the American robins are at least twice the size of the British robin!) came to our holly tree, which was full of red berries. In two days they demolished the lot.
and the sparrows waited in line for a go at our feeder, always full of good stuff for them!
After the departure of our grandchildren, I got back to painting, and put the finishing touches to my latest flower painting: pansies:
By the way, to all those who knew my large 3-D 'Inner City' patchwork, I have news for you: I started another big one (hopefully to go on the wall in our sitting room, as my inner city has suffered over the years and looks decidedly faded and old). Here's a photo of the log cabin squares laid out on the floor before being joined together... which will take a while... Stay tuned!
On February 3rd we had our second lot of snow. Loved taking pictures of various views and different times during the day.
This is what we woke up to at 7am:
and more... like soap suds, on our Japanese maple:
our bird feeders...
out front, the same cotton wool sudsy pictures!
And on February 6th and 7th, finally to our first official BLIZZARD! This was the third snow in 6 weeks, but this time it was heavier and windier than any previous time. And by the time it was over, we had 24" (60 cms) at our shallowest point of snow out back, and way over 36" (90 cms) where the snow had drifted and accumulated. And I got a snow day on February 8th from work!
Here's what greeted us out front:
and out back:
Walter was in up to his knees shovelling the front path down to the street and in front of our property!
The sidewalk had not been ploughed by the municipality this time (whereas the previous time I left for work in the snow and the municipality had cleared the roads AND the sidewalks). Little 'mazes' were channelled through deep snow.
Our house seems to have stood up well to a heavy load of snow on it!
Next door had a beautiful show of icicles...
And I decided to have a snow bath before I tackled the continuation of Walter's work cutting a walkway through the snow to the back gate, and continued past the back gate and cleared most of the snow in front of the garage and trash cans!
And just to show that I'm not totally focused only on snow, here's another focus of ours: our favourite feline!
That's it for now. Do send me your news and views. I love hearing from all our friends and family!
