photo by Cody Bralts



THINGS I DID ***NOT*** DO ON MY WINTER VACATION TO FLORIDA, ALL OF WHICH I HAVE DONE ON VACATION BEFORE:



check work email obsessively write frequently in a journal solely because I “had time” make to-do lists for my return to IL collect shells like there were never going to be shells again, ever dread going home (well, “dread” is a v strong word) get a sunburn over my entire body (just my face, unfortunately. Oh, and my shins.) drive the car stay fully caught up with the news take photos with a real camera (used the iPhone instead, with decent results) go for a walk on our last morning (I regret this) enter the Gulf of Mexico past my ankles watch TV (apart from a couple basketball games) worry excessively about the house, the cats, etc* explore any farmers’ market or natural food stores/co-ops wear socks or shoes most of the time



THINGS I ACTUALLY DID WHILE AT THE BEACH:



fly a kite shoot occasional lo-fi video catch a cold drink caffeinated coffee (I usually drink decaf due to anxiety, but miraculously, etc etc) eat berries and citrus and lots of other stuff used the iPhone for just about everything sit on the beach for long periods of time pretending to read but actually just listening to the water and sniffing the very salty air see bald eagles and their babies pet a beach cat named Peepster** sleep walk Twitter the whole thing from beginning to end so I wouldn’t forget anything, on account of the not writing anything down



We also spent time with some of my relatives (Dad, Uncle Sacha, and my Oma, who was very Oma this time around) and some of Jim’s relatives (actually, a lot of Jim’s relatives, including my in-laws, whom I adore), and it was excellent.



Now I’m back. I took today off to regroup and catch up with things like work and mail and cat hair and seed-starting and extracurricular activities. I better get to it.



* this was interesting to me. When we’re away, I typically worry myself about what’s going on at home to the point where enjoyment of any vacation-related proceedings gets to be difficult… and nothing ever happens while we’re gone, of course. This time, however, we found out a couple of days before leaving FL that our furnace had stopped working and it was 48 degrees in the house. Which, you know, is not exactly freezing (cats were fine), but some v cold air was on the way and we were wondering about pipes freezing, and we thought, you know, it’d be nice to come home to a house that was a bit warmer than 48 degrees, etc… but, surprising everyone (including myself), I didn’t worry too much about it or get hysterical or tense or unhappy. I was, instead, philosophical. After all, what could we do other than enlist the help of our totally awesome friends and neighbors? For some reason, it did not interfere in any way with my enjoyment of sunset or food or the beach (last year it would have been too much) nor did it make me extra-crabby on the way home. Thanks to Ed with the Breakaway Head and Neighbor Dave for troubleshooting and fixing the “Cadillac of Furnaces”.



** Peepster, who lives next door to where we stayed and who, quite possibly, has the best life of any cat:

I think the cotton candy was supposed to make up for the fact we weren’t allowed to ride the elephant.

They say time near water can breed great ideas. The family and I took a much-needed getaway this weekend to the shores of Lake Michigan. Now, this getaway involved the four of us shacking up with my wonderful sister-in-law, her husband, and our three nieces, PLUS my parents-in-law; it also involved a trip to the University of Notre Dame for a rainy and chilly football game and a sneak peek at the campus. These are activities that might not sound all that vacationy or getawayish to most, but if you knew my family-in-law (and if you could have seen this awesome arts & crafts bungalow we stayed in), you’d understand. And, yes, I like college football games: I’m not so into the way universities deal with their student-athletes, but that’s a topic for another time. I am aware of the duality of the situation. But, yeah, it was good. I’m hopeful that the weekend away was the gateway to good things. There are many irons in the fire. How’d you spend your weekend?

Thanks to everyone who wished OJ a speedy recovery; he’s on a couple of medications but should be fine. He’s certainly behaving like himself. According to the vet, OJ - after being on IV antibiotics for about 8 hours - suddenly started meowing and complaining and behaving very differently from the cat that was brought in (but very much like the cat we’re used to). We’re glad to have him back, even if he has weird shavey spots (paw for the IV and chest for electrodes). Tonight’s dinner is Mom’s Lasagna, a B family favorite since the late 70s. It became a Christmas Eve tradition in the house I grew up in by the time I was about 10 years old - it would have been unthinkable to have the holidays without a several-pound lasagna made by my mother. Even though we don’t practice the tradition in my current household, I still make this lasagna a couple of times a year. The Teenager ™ and Jim especially love it. So… here’s the recipe. As always, it can be converted to vegetarian or vegan recipe, and I like to use organic/local ingredients whenever possible. Mom’s Lasagna SAUCE: 1 # turkey Italian sausage 1 clove garlic, minced 1 T basil (dried) 1/2 t salt 1 28 oz can whole tomatoes 2 6 oz cans tomato paste 10 oz large lasagna noodles (whole wheat is OK) FILLING: 2 eggs 3 C ricotta cheese 1/2 C grated Parmesan cheese 2 T parsley flakes 1/2 t salt 1/2 t pepper 1 # mozarella cheese, thinly sliced Brown meat slowly; spoon off excess fat. Add next 5 ingredients + 1 C water (I always forget it). Simmer, covered, 15 minutes; stir often. Cook noodles in boiling salted water until tender; drain and rinse. In a separate bowl, beat eggs; add all remaining ingredients, except mozzarella. Layer half the noodles in a 13 x 9 x 2 baking dish. Spread with half the ricotta filling, add half the mozzarella, and half the sauce. Repeat. Bake at 375 degrees for about 30 minutes (or assemble early and refrigerate,in which case you would bake for 45 minutes). Let stand for 10 minutes before serving. Here’s the wine I had with dinner - the first glass since Christmas night: I don’t know if I’m just a total wine, um, slob or what, but I really like this particular bottle. Lots of berry, but not too sweet. Tonight it’s knitting and season 5 of 24. I have the day off tomorrow. It’s all good.

Winter has come to central IL. It’s dawn when I get up and well into darkness when I get home, and the juncoes are back. Big, sloppy flakes came out of the sky yesterday for a bit, but nothing stuck. It’s nothing like the winters I spent as a teenager in Minnesota in the early 80s. The below-zero cold just went right through you; the snow was powdery and prodigious. I had just come from Florida and was wholly unprepared for what cold like that feels like, but - I lived!! This will be my 12th winter in my part of Illinois and I’m accustomed to the green grass after Thanksgiving, the occasional winter without snow, and the tips of daffodils starting to poke through the earth after a couple 60-degree days in January.The Solstice isn’t far away.[I wrote long ago about the ice rink my father built that first winter in MN, and how I skated beneath the Northern Lights. I’ll have to see if I can find it.] ******I survived my trip to CHGO. I even had fun. I spent time in the two parts of CHGO I never spent time in during the five years I lived there - I never hung out in the hotel-y area by O’Hare, and I rarely went downtown. [Almost never, actually. I think we went to the Shedd Aquarium once. I never shopped on the Magnificent Mile.] The party was in a private room here. It was amusing and a little bit ostentatious. My brother’s wife’s father is a Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer, which I did not know in advance; he has no use for digital cameras of any kind and was amused by all the bad digital photography that increased as the amount of drinking increased. It was a good time. ******It’s 27 degrees outside. If you see my eldest walking to school in a warm-up jacket and flip-flops, please know that he has been raised to wear a winter jacket and proper footwear when the weather gets chilly. Thank you.

A life in bullets:

• Tomorrow, I leave work at noon to head to Chicago with my mother, who will have spent the morning driving FROM Chicago to pick me up.
• Why, you ask?
• Because I got roped into attending a surprise family event.
• An event that is “adults only”.
• OK, fine, I said initially. Have a good time!
• I don’t see my nuclear family enough; it pissed me off that we were just expected to leave the kids with someone and go PAR-TAY IN THE BIG CITY!!!!.
• My mother talked me into it, because she’s coming all the way from Portland, OR to attend this thing and is willing to spend 7+ hours in the car with me (!) THE DAY OF to make sure that at least I show up.
• I’m regretting this decision for a myriad of reasons, but I don’t feel compelled to back out. Yet.
• Actually, now that I think about it, there’s no freaking way we’re going to get to the hotel at O’Hare in time to catch the Party Vehicle that’s taking everyone downtown.
• [Yes, downtown. From O’Hare. That’s another 2 hours in a car round trip.]
• If we leave here by 1… man. It’s going to be close.
• I don’t really have anything to wear, either.
• Oh, well.
• We return here on Saturday.
• Then Sunday morning? I have to be at an event for work for 4 hours. Presenting. Constantly. To kids.
• I booked this in August or something and cannot get out of it.
• Somehow, a cake must be made for Grandparents-In-Attendance birthday party for the daughter (see “We return here on Saturday”, I’m thinking) Sunday afternoon.
• Mom leaves for Chicago late in the afternoon.
• Then it’s going to be Monday. Wasn’t it just Monday?

I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy for Thanksgiving weekend to arrive. It used to be that it was just that much more extra work for me, but now I get to do stuff I rarely do - sleep in, cook food, read, etc. Entry on balance is forthcoming, because this is a little bit ridiculous. np: I Don’t Wanna, Bear Quartet