Winter Memories, Part 3

Alan surprised me with a one-night getaway to the Antrim in January. I love these surprises.

An additional surprise was that our original room--a cozy little space under the eaves of the main house--had a leak in its tub. I asked about it and was given a choice between waiting over an hour for the maintenance man, or moving (at no extra charge) to occupy an entire suite in a fabulous little outbuilding. 

Uh, no contest. Below is the bathroom of the suite--yes, the bathroom! That thing on the wall behind me is a fireplace. I'm not sure I'd ever been in a bathroom with a fireplace before. We also had a sitting room and a library with a desk. It was quite lovely!

This is the view from our outbuilding's porch up to the main house (where you can just make out the little third floor windows--one of those was our original room.)

The moral of this story: if your tub leaks, tell the front desk and ask what can be done about it. :)

Winter Memories: 2

Believe it or not, this is just a mile from our house. Behind the camera is a busy main road, and behind Amelia and me (standing on the hilltop) is the local man-made Lake Montebello.

But here it looks other-worldly and starkly beautiful. It was cold, wet, and the four of us were the only ones out there sledding. Here comes Evelyn:

Alan bought the inner tubes at a local auto shop last winter. Fabulous purchase.

I like winter. I like snow. I like how invigorating it is to spend time outside in weather like this, and the feeling of returning home to thaw.

Good memories. 

Winter Memories: 1

This series is inspired by the fact that I cannot figure out where on the computer to find the more recent pictures. Technology is not my thing.

But I found some pictures that hail from when the weather was considerably cooler. So I thought I might reminisce.

Below is the angel who goes with our little wooden Nativity set. She's had a few falls in her day. I think there was even one year where she fell and spent several months between the back of the hutch and the wall. Poor thing.

Even so, she inspired her own name, the "one-winged angel of God." And I like it.

We've all taken some falls, spent some time in dark, lonely places, and even lost a wing here and there. But we can be called "of God," because He loves us, calls us, and makes us His own children no matter the fractures of our lives.

Thank you, one winged angel of God, for your encouragement. I wish I had looked at page two to see the rest of that sentence at the bottom of the page--but I was so taken with your name, I didn't notice it at the time!

May The Force Be With You

Amelia turned nine. For months she planned this Star Wars party. :)

Friends (and a local Storm Trooper) gathered in our back yard.

Amelia and I googled "Star Wars party ideas" and found the pool noodle light sabers. We spent an evening cutting them, then using strips of duct tape for the handles.

The Storm Trooper goes to our church. (Although never in costume.) His sidekick below baked the cupcakes--she goes to our church, too. It's nice to have talented friends!

Storm Trooper holding court. He was pretty impressive.

The Death Star pinata was one of our google search finds. For our first foray into paper mache, we felt pretty proud of ourselves! Amelia and I had five days of sweet fellowship putting on a new layer each night. I wish we'd done it for a week--a few more layers and everyone would have had a chance to batter it!

Amelia chose her cupcake designs with our friend Shelley, who really pulled them off, didn't she?

And now she's nine. She's a good planner, she had focus, she knew what she wanted, she had a great time watching it all come together, and that was a gift to us!