Aftermath

The "December Storm" of Whatcom County is now just a topic of conversation and most of the snow has disappeared. In our neighborhood there is just one little patch left and it's in our front yard! After a week plus of warmish weather and a week of mostly solid rain, this patch is still hanging in there. Now that's what I call tenacity.

The birds are happy that food is more accessible and a squirrel has developed his acrobatic talents after discovering that he can climb a tree, balance on the clothesline and then hang upside down to eat the suet in the hanging bird feeder. I suggested he send a resume to Cirque du Soleil! It was too dark to get a good telephoto image w/o flash, so apologies for the blur. You can get the idea.

Rain Keeps Falling On My Head....

Day Three of non-stop rain! Schools are closed again. It's a real mess for some folks. Weather is happening.

A picture of my rainman....can you see him?

Rain By Any Other Name Is Still Water

I was on my way out the door early this morning to meet my prayer partner at school at 6:30 am when I noticed 3 messages on my answering machine. I missed them while I was in the shower. Lo and behold the messages informed me that school was cancelled due to flooding! Hmmm, I thought, it did rain hard last night, but Bellingham is not on a river. And we've never cancelled school because of rain. I turned on cable news and lo and behold there were pics of B'ham with closed road signs and a report that we had declared a weather emergency. I looked out the window and my street looks fine; Wally made it to work fine. But apparently there is bad flooding somewhere where school buses must go, so we will be making up yet another day at the end of the year. Guess I'll go outside and build a waterman.

http://www.kirotv.com/video/18429771/index.html

62....whoo hoo!

Yesterday was the bearded one's birthday! It was also the first chance we had to head to Des Moines to see Wayne because of all the "weather" we've had for the past 2 weeks, so we decided to give it a try. We had another inch or so of new snow on the ground with a nice icy frosting. We had a tricky time of it making it from our driveway to the main drag, and we were wondering if this was such a good idea after all. But as soon as we made it to I-5, it was bare and mostly dry. So away we went.

We made it to Waynee's just fine, and Kris and Paul showed up with a surprise Mile High Raspberry Pie! Oh yeah....

But wait, there's more! We headed over to Kris and Paul's place (a mile or so away) and Krissie made scrumptuous pasta and homemade meatballs and salad and garlic bread....and....Waynee (pie maker extraordinaire) had made a beautiful custard pie for his kingship's birthday....such a deal....urp.

Thanks, Waynee, Kris and Paul for all the treats...t'was a good day for himself, don'tchaknow!

Dutch Treat

It's New Year's Day and you know what that means? It's ollie bolen open house at the Gilmores. Lynn Gilmore and Rena Kenoyer are Dutch through and through, born and raised in Lynden, WA. Lynn began a tradition years ago of having her whole, BIG family over on New Year's Day for ollie bolen. Last year she asked Rena to help and included our "church family" in the event. This year is the 2nd Annual Grace Baptist Church and Lynn Gilmore Family Ollie Bolen Party. What is ollie bolen, you ask? Well, first you mix up the batter with apples and raisins added. Then you drop spoonfulls into oil and fry them...

Part of the fun is "guessing" the shapes of the ollie bolen when they are done. They do not form into perfect balls, each one has little "appendages" that make them look like animals and such. It's a lot like making shapes out of clouds, except you can eat them.

Then the next step is to roll the hot, crusty dough balls in cinnamon sugar....mmmmm.....

Then you sit around with about 50 other people and eat them and lick your fingers!

Then you hug the cooks and waddle home to take your cholesterol meds.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Harbinger of Spring

The beautiful and fragrant paperwhite! Happy New Year!

Christmas '08

Our church's Christmas Eve service had to be cancelled because of the weather, but we were able to attend a candlelight service at a church nearby. This always sets the tone for us for this most special celebration of the Saviour of the world.

We woke to an authentic white Christmas, with 3 new inches of snow on the ground. I know people are growing weary of this white stuff and the hassles it creates for getting around, but it was so beautiful and it was nice to have the time to pause and appreciate it. We took a long walk in the park across the street and admired the magical landscape.

Then it was time to head home for the unwrapping of presents. This was the year of the snowflake--literally as well as figuratively! Wally spent countless hours cutting out huge snowflakes which I discovered tucked everywhere on Christmas morning when I got up early. Pretty cute!

What a luxury to spend a quiet day with family and with the Lord at the center!