Project 365, days 8-14

Cats love the sun on cold winter days, and we love fires on cold winter nights, especially for stretching out and reading in front of. It's fun to have company because then we usually have dessert, like homemade chocolate pudding with home-whipped cream. Practicing writing his letters is more fun for this boy than I could ever have imagined. Look at that, we even found an "M" shaped Mushroom. We enjoyed watching a furry fox squirrel munching on winter berries before heading into the library, and the next day Michael got to enjoy munching on his own winter meal. That's a good week.

Afternoon sun on a cold winter's day

For Christmas this year we were given a window bench for our pop out window and my Godmother made a cushion for on top. Since then this has become the favorite spot in the house when the winter sun streams through the window in the mid afternoon. If I'm lucky I'm able to claim a spot for myself after Calvin lays down for his nap, and many an afternoon has found me dozing there, my head bobbing and weaving over the book I'm pretending to read. Cookie, however, believes that the spot was made entirely for her benefit, especially with the bird feeders being only a few feet away in the front garden. Can't you tell how intrigued she is by the bird feeders? I thought so.

Project 365, days 1-7

A picture a day for a whole year. That shouldn't be too hard in this house, but we'll have to see as the year goes by...

Days 1-7, January 1-7: Celebrating a new year, a new decade by eating our way through vacation up north and shopping with a monkey; at home trying out new toys, finding our artistic sides; who knew he could write his own name without assistance or even prompting? And lastly, it's hard to believe, but our first substantial snow of the season didn't arrive until January 7th. Happy new year.

A note about Avatar

If you don't know what that is, it's a movie. And not just any movie, but a 3-D movie. And not just any 3-D movie, but a phenomenal must-see beautiful glorious 3-D movie. A few weeks ago I had seen the title written several places and wasn't sure exactly what people were discussing, I was that off the grid, and if Curtis hadn't been in town over the holiday, and been so thrilled with his first viewing of the movie that he expounded vehemently on its multitude of charms and virtually goaded us into going, I'm not sure we would have gone, and that would most certainly have been a mistake. I have heard Curtis refer to the epic film as the Star Wars of our generation, and for all the camp and glory he just might be right. One thing is absolutely sure, this is an event as much as it is a movie; the audience, myself included, clapped at the end of the nearly three hour long film, and it wasn't even an opening night showing.

I loved it. We loved it. If we can find it in a nearby IMAX we will be going to see it again (and maybe even if we can't). This is the film of all films. Enough said.

New Years up north

And now, a final installment of our holiday times. Like we have in previous years, we packed up the car and headed north to celebrate the new year in snowy and frigid style. As it turns out, they definitely had more snow up there, something we'd been missing down here, but the three degree weather wasn't actually any colder, not that we'd have noticed anyhow; once it gets down that far we tend to stay inside.

Our trip was as delightful and relaxing as always. We did some snacking, some napping, some eating, some shopping, some napping, a lot of reading, some snacking, some movie watching, some eating, and some walking. Yes, outside. Hey, if the deer can do it, why can't we? (to be fair, we walked when it was 20 degrees, not 3).

New Year's Eve was quiet and fun. Well, sort of quiet; my mother and godmother thought fit to open a package of party horns before Calvin went to bed. Thankfully not too long before.

We did our usual goofy gift exchange while sipping champagne. If you think the pooping santa claus candy dispenser ever gets old, you must be wrong; I think it has circulated now for upwards of four years. The cork coasters, on the other hand, have only just started their lifetime of riducule.

I'm sure you've caught on that we do a lot of eating when we on this trip. Most of that is a combination of snacking (mmm smoked fish), and traditional meals (mmm bot bie), but whenever we've made it that far north we always have to trek those last 45 minutes north to Mackinaw City to eat at the Key Hole Bar where the fried perch is to die for (and I don't just mean because of the grease content).

While in Mackinaw we usuallly shop, too, between the few clothing stores that remain open, the Hush Puppy place, and the fudge shops, you really can't go wrong. We didn't find much to bring home this year, though it took some convincing to get Calvin to leave the monkey behind. The Indiana Jones getup (yes, that's a cow backpack), was slightly less of a problem.

We didn't find anything to buy in Mackinaw, although on New Year's Eve, while shopping in Petoskey, we came away from the used book store there with a 1904 numbered edition of Flaubert's Sentimental Education, so we weren't too heartbroken.

By the way, does this remind anyone else of Chevy Chase? I'm thinking Christmas Vacation...

This, on the other hand, reminds me of Norman Rockwell. Or at least it would, if it weren't for all the SUVs, minivans, and crossovers. Still, it's pretty and quaint. That's one of the reasons we love Harbor Springs.

And this concludes the holiday series. We will now return to regular life.