For some reason, Julia wrote up a little nameplate for her lab the other day. She’s really gonna regret putting her second assistant down at the bottom when Genevieve gets that big grant.
Category: photos
Today’s Hoar Frost
Northfield woke up this morning to a frosted city. Beautiful.
Chrismoustache
Every now and again, partly because I’m deeply envious of the hirsute among us and partly because I figure that an almost-40-year-old guy should be able to have some goddamn facial hair, I try to grow a beard. Christmas Break 2009, being constituted by 13 days without any time in the office, was one of these times. I can’t say the Chrismoustache was a success, though I did leave my usual territory (five days of growth that look like most men’s five o’clock shadow) and venture into a new area that we might call Brokenrazoria or Drifterland. Anyhow, it’s all coming off tomorrow morning. I guess that I’ll never be able the end a ski race wearing an ice beard like the great Thomas Wassberg…
January 2 Cold to Ski? (No)
It was cold here today, sure, but it was also a gorgeous day: cloudless, clear yellow sunlight, gleaming snow – the kind of day that’s a shame not to use for skiing.
Snow Forted
The four of us hit the hill and fields near Julia’s elementary school again today for some sledding and such. The crusty snow turns out to be excellent fortress-building material. Sadly, we were unable to find anyone to be our vassals.
Northfield Traffic Jam
Seriously: it took me 12 minutes, not 10, to drive home from the ski trails this afternoon because I was behind this big John Deere, which was equipped with a massive snowblower and moving from one farm to another…
Christmas Day
The day ended with four visits to the girls’ bedroom to rearrange various teddy bears who seemed to be wiggling out from under their (and Genevieve’s) blankets and two more visits to try to find a My Pretty Pony hair clip that had apparently fallen out of the toy’s plasticky locks and into Julia’s bed, but honestly the rest of the day was just great. The girls were thrilled by their “Santa gifts” this morning, and spent much of the day playing with one or several or all of their toys. Vivi and I did go outside to take advantage of the heavy, wet snow – nature’s Play-Doh! – and make a nice snowman (beside which Vivi and our next-door friend posed):
Later, after we invited over for dinner some friends who were unable to travel in the bad weather, I did a bit of “skiing” in that snow, which was great for sucking my skis off the track. It was so warm out that I finished my ski without a hat or gloves on, which is a late-March or April stunt, not a Christmas Day one.
Dinner with those friends went very well: the food was delicious, the girls (our two and their two) played well together and enjoyed each other, and then before you knew it, bedtime was upon us. Only 364 more shopping days till Christmas!
Sitting on a Bench in the Snow
This pretty little bench (ignored since the students went home, a month ago) would have been a nice spot to sit and watch the snow fly – if you had a polar-weight sleeping bag and lots of warm drinks. By now, about 15 hours after taking this picture, the bench is probably just the core of a massive drift, and those seven little ridges of snow are gone forever. Oh well. See you on January 4, bench!
Nightskiing Deserves a Quiet Night
Perfect. The only things I could hear while skiing tonight were my breath, my skis gliding, and my poles clicking.* It was a gorgeous night on the snow.**
* Admittedly, I’m half deaf, I left my hearing aids at home, and I wore a too-thick toque.
** This photo hardly does justice to how bright it actually is: the snow picks up my headlamp’s beam, the stars, ambient light from streetlights and campus buildings… The trails glow.
Sk8rs
Last Sunday’s quest for skating ice was ill-fated: Carleton’s rinks had not been iced, and the rink on the baseball field behind City Hall was still more grit than ice. But Shannon, Julia, and Genevieve all gamely tried it for a while. I love the look on Vivi’s little pink-cheeked face here as – having taken off her skates – she “boots” around on the lumpy ice.
Winter Singer
Julia’s kindergarten class had its “winter sing” today. It was wonderful – funny and cute and all that. Julia obviously enjoyed herself. Here, she’s following her teacher’s lead in doing the gestures for one song.
I Am Yofif
I don’t know what’s more insulting – that I am typecast as Joseph (or as Vivi say, “Yofif”) in our little family Nativity scenes, or that I’m not trusted to put my pillowcase-and-headband outfit on my own head. Sheesh. You know, I don’t even believe Julia when she tells me that this is what Joseph wore on the first Christmas.
Sledding!
Here’s the photo of the day – the girls and their neighbor friend, enjoying the mountain in our backyard.
Snoweekend
Nonna and Boppa are here for a short pre-Christmas visit, the frigid temperatures are moderating to merely cold, the snow is staying put, and we have a full weekend of fun stuff to do, including possibly enlarging this snow cave. Or at least using it for a good snowball fight.
Snow(drift) Day!
Every significant snowfall builds a big drift against the patio door, but this morning brought the biggest one we’ve ever had: about 6 inches taller than our convenient and smiley measuring stick.
I had to loop around the house to get to the drift, which extended back away from the house quite a ways.
Thankfully, it was almost all light, fluffy snow, and I only needed ten minutes to remove it entirely, creating some good space for the girls to play later.
If only I could have moved all the snow to our sledding “hill,” which is, annoyingly, still bare! Clearly, we need more snow.
