Hello 2018

I'm sipping the last of my coffee as I sneak back into this little space to say, "Hello 2018!" You started with a "Brrrrrrrr!" Plans to travel to Burlington for fireworks and a dragon parade were canceled when the forecast promised negative temperatures. It feels quite warm today at eighteen degrees, but we've started the year with some frozen pipes and extreme temperatures (negative 26 being the worst of it) that have me thinking of packing our bags for a tropical island (if only!). So on New Years we stayed in and painted with new Christmas paints, had a movie and read our fortunes. We did not make it until midnight. We've yet to do that since having children, and I really don't mind.

Jake's Dad headed out yesterday after a long visit for the holidays and the kids headed back to school. I am still operating at half speed from those very chill days. I actually had the house to myself for a few hours yesterday, which is very unusual, and squandered my time cleaning up. But it does feel nice to get back into the routine of things. Another winter storm is building outside and more freezing cold temperatures are on their way. It's winters like this that cause me to drift off into daydream land of fields of wild flowers.

The end of December marked ten years since we moved to "The Land of Winter"...yes, we were foolish enough to move here in winter (hehe). We had snow half way up our bottom floor windows that year. I still love it here, but I could do without the  negative temperatures so we can get outside and snow shoe or cross country ski or at least not see our breath in the house. Stay warm, where ever you are!