Sub Zero

The wind is sincerely howling around the house.  I can hear it trying to reach down our chimney, but I have that fireplace so stoked with wood that there's not a chance it will get through.

What does one do as the temperature plumets from 35 degrees to -4 in just a few short hours?  If you're born and raised up north, you get the heck outside and get as much vitamin D as you can while the sun doth shine, my friends.  Throw on some extra clothes and play a little boot hockey.  (or sit in your heated car and take pictures of your husband and his friends - it really was too cold).

I took a stroll through our local park and admired the ice sculptures.  I guess it wasn't technically a stroll.  More like a moment of hopping up and down trying to keep warm with my back to the wind and cursing like a sailor.

This one was my favorite sculptures - a growler - what do you call them in your neck of the woods?  You know - a big jug of beer that you can have filled at your local brewery and bring it home to enjoy. Ours is The Excelsior Brewing Company - and low and behold, they have a blog.

This chilly day was also "Hockey Day Minnesota".  The highlight for me was watching a high school varsity hockey game being played outside -  "pond hockey" style.  Go Benilde! (they lost)  I watched this game

. . . from the comfort of my couch.  With half of my family and the half empty growler close by.  No judgement, right?  The other half was . . . playing hockey.  I prefer the spectator sports myself.

And now, the sun has set.  All are sleeping - I am here next to the fire working on a Valentine's Day bunting for a friend.  It's so cute, though.  This might find a home right here.

Happy Hockey Day to all and to all a warm and peaceful night.

Dreadlocks and Redheads

Nothing like a little dreadlocked Anne Lamott to invigorate my holiday spirits.  She spoke at a local church here in the Twin Cities.  She was a delight and a breath of warm air (she flew in from Cali).  She makes me think of what a really cool aunt/mom would be like.  I want to be a really cool aunt/mom with dreads but they sound like a lot of work, so I'll stick with my boring mom hair.  I'll just be a kind-of-cool aunt.  

And up there, I'm working on a lacy scarf with some gifted Icelandic Lopi.  Remember those cool Icelandic ladies and the pope I spent the evening with at the Italian restaurant?  They gave me this pretty yarn.  Aren't they sweet?   That's the true color, thanks to my nifty camera.  I have a beautiful red-headed niece who may bet getting this for Christmas if I get it off the needles on time.