Wintry Things

"We just moved here recently. About six or (mentally counting in head) no, it's been eight months now." That's how it usually goes in conversations with acquaintances. Then there's a moment of recognition that over half a year ago may no longer qualify as "recently".

Neither of us is overly eager to check out new and unfamiliar places on the weekends. My mental list of local restaurants to try and nearby cities to visit has grown faded and yellow with disuse. I guess these are signs that we have settled in.

But then again, there's also the cold. The frigid, bone-clattering cold might be to blame for us laying low too, storing up our energy for the winter holiday to come. These days, I practice macro photography in the mornings, trying my best to take pictures of snowflakes on my windshield with a cell phone while my car warms up.

I finally realized that there is a "pro" (aka manual) mode on my phone and look forward to the next flurries for an opportunity to improve.

If I had a past life, I'm pretty sure I was a meteorologist because I just love weather and precipitation so much. Even when there have not been snowflakes, there's usually some kind of icy forms to snap away at while I wait. It amazed me how much it can vary from one day to the next. Thick ripples like stained glass, fractal clusters like magnetic shavings clung together in the oddest ways.

In case I hadn't gotten the temperature's chilly hint, the holiday season has arrived. Yet I still felt surprised to find goodies on my desk at work one morning.

I used some leftover yarn to crochet some motifs to create an "ugly Christmas sweater". The kids at school loved it and it won the grand prize at a party Isaac and I attended - a hot cocoa variety pack and a restaurant giftcard.

We ventured out on a cold evening and found some pretty Christmas lights in the neighborhoods nearby. Here are our three favorites: More is better, giant dog, precision.

I apologize for getting off of my regimented weekly schedule. It's been a slowly slipping thing - from Fridays to Sundays, then missing a week and then another week. I'd like to blame it on the holiday season or the bitter cold weather we've had lately, but I can't be sure about that. It might just be that we are settled in now.

And so I have decided, for now at least, to write posts here bimonthly. I'll finish 2016 with a holiday wrap up, and then begin the new schedule next year. Starting in January, I plan to write new posts the second and fourth weekends of each month. I still wish to maintain this blog and want to do it on a regular basis. But I want to keep things interesting too, and since our pace has slowed down, it makes sense that my blog will too.