First Snow

The voice on the radio warned us to be careful. The valley roads were slick due to rain and snow. Snow! Aagh! I'm not ready. Yesterday we had to empty out our bedroom so the carpet could be laid today. The items I needed to get ready for work were in multiple rooms. And we had snow! Luckily we had received more rain than snow so it didn't take too long to defrost and scrape the car windows. The roads were fine and I got to work on time. Tonight the snow was flying at my window as I drove home from my tap class. Now the ground is dusted with snow. Hopefully there won't be any surprises in the morning (it's supposed to be cold). Snow is fine when you can admire it through your living room window. Driving in it is something else!

Festival of Trees

Today we attended the Festival of Trees. It seemed strange to go there without either of our girls. For years we were there because the girls were dancing; the trees were a bonus. Last year, I was the performer and my girls watched me - a reversal in roles. Today four of us from our adult class put on our tap shoes and a smile then walked out onto the little stage, praying that we didn't screw up in front of all those people. It went okay although the stage surface was rather strange (rough, with lots of seams). With that out of the way we walked around and enjoyed the wonderful display of decorated trees and wreaths. My favorite used peacock feathers as its focus point. Of course, there was a Boise State Broncos tree and a couple of wreaths all decked out in orange and blue. We also managed the catch the "dolls come to life" entertainment when actors play the part of dolls representing fairy tales and other stories. This year they had the evil queen, Hansel and Gretel, Queen of Hearts, fairy godmother, Noah, Cinderella, and Merlin & Arthur with Excalibur. We spent 3-4 hours total there, soaking it all in. I think I'm ready to go buy our tree now.

A Very Quiet Thanksgiving

This was the first Thanksgiving that I spent without my daughters. I had thought it was a small dinner before when we just had the four of us but this year it was just Bob and me. The girls were together at the home of Laura's fiance in Virginia. Since our house is a bit torn up, I didn't really want to invite anyone over here. On the bright side, we didn't have to clean the house or dress up. However, the table seemed terribly empty even though it was covered with food. I basically fixed what I always fix except that we barbequed a smaller turkey and I baked a pecan pie instead of a pumpkin pie. Just after we sat down to eat, we heard some noise and realized that a neigbor was setting off fireworks (I don't know why - leftovers?) We opened up the blinds and watched them for a few minutes.

Last night, since it was just the two of us, we attended the 24th Annual Thanksgiving Ecumenical and Interfaith Service. I had wanted to go for a number of years but with people coming into town, it had never worked out. Worshipers were asked to bring canned food and the offering went to Interfaith Sanctuary (winter shelter for the homeless). We were called to worship with the blowing of the Shofar (ritual instrument of Judaism) then representatives from various religions processed into the sanctuary. We were welcomed by the Catholic Bishop, a prayer was read from the Koran and then the Mayor of Boise voiced his Proclamation of Thanksgiving. The Ecumenical Choir, made up of musicians from a dozen Christian churches sang two numbers. There was a reading from the Book of Mormon, a call to meditation from a member of the Buddhist community and a song from the choir from the local Jewish synagogue. The message was from a Methodist minister and reflected on caring for the poor. There were hymns sung by the congregation, a blessing from the Rabbi, and a prayer from a woman of the Baha'i faith. We ended with the blowing of the Shofar and a recessional. It was a beautiful service and the place was packed - standing room only. If only the spirit of that worship service could move out into the world......

Canine children

One thing that I have noticed about people who either no longer have children at home or never had children is that their pets tend to become their children. All the attention that would have gone to children is now tranferred to their animals. I don't think that I am quite there yet but I have been giving our four furry family members more attention lately. As someone who has studied animal behavior, I am still puzzled, amused and sometimes amazed at their behavior. Piper, our Sharpei-Border Collie mix, is interesting to watch. She is about 3 years old but still acts like a teenage dog. A couple of days ago I bought a couple of soup bones while I was at the grocery store, one for Piper and one for Kozmo (American Eskimo-lab-? mix). I hadn't done that for a while and it didn't take me long to remember why. The dogs had been happily chewing on their bones while Bob and I were raking leaves. Suddenly, we heard a lot of barking and growling. I went to investigate and found Kozmo guarding his bone, snapping at Piper when she came near. I looked all over but couldn't see Piper's bone. She appeared to be totally clueless as to it's location. However, when I asked Kozmo "where's Piper's bone?", he ran over to one of the freshly dug holes (Piper is a digger, unfortunately) and looked at me. Piper immediately ran over and began to growl at Kozmo. So I reached into the hole, dug around, and sure enough, there was the bone. After wiping it off I gave it to Piper. She chewed on it for a bit but after a while she was carrying it around the yard, running in circles. There seemed to be an air of desperation about her, like she just HAD to bury it. The next day both bones had disappeared so Bob dug them up. Later, Piper was standing over both bones, not allowing poor Kozmo near them. She was moved inside so Kozmo could gnaw on his bone in peace. Today both bones were missing again but Bob felt he had better things to do besides digging for bones. (Imagine that!) I had been considering buying new dog beds but perhaps Piper is still not ready for that. When we first got her she managed to pull her foam dog bed through the dog door to the yard where she proceeded to destroy it. Once she had finished off her own bed, she did the same to Kozmo's. Poor Kozmo! He loved to curl up in that bed. After trying other beds (which she destroyed), they ended up with plywood with old carpet stapled to it - the one thing that Piper can't pull through the door or chew up. We keep hoping she'll grow up! Or develop more brains! We still love her, though. She's one of the family.

Clear and Shiny Shower

Today I took a shower in our newly rebuilt shower stall! It has shiny new chrome and clear glass sides, quite a contrast to the old one. This may not seem exciting to most people but it was a long time in coming. Oh yes, we also have a new ceiling, a new mirror and new vanity lights. I cleaned up the cedar cabinets and paneling with something called orange oil. Works great.