If only all the puzzles were chocolate...

When Granddad opened his present from the New Virginians,

he thought it was just a jigsaw puzzle.  

He likes jigsaw puzzles.

This one was a collage of candy bars and pieces of candy.

It was terribly hard to work - one of those puzzles where the pieces are all weird contorted shapes and a straight line is hard to construct.

He stuck with it, putting in a few pieces every day.

Yesterday the puzzle was finished. 

He left it on the table for me to admire when I came in, and went to take a nap.

When he got up from his nap...

the puzzle was transformed.  

It had come to life!

Haven't seen him so delighted with anything in a long, long while.

Sweet success!

The Hiking Club convenes

Back in Tallahassee this Bloomingtonaut regularly hikes with a group of friends.  Didn't want her to miss out while visiting, so we took a few Indiana hikes.

One morning we re-visited a familiar trail by Griffy Lake.

You remember that the lake was drained for repairs last year?  Now the water is coming back, and the early morning sun reflected off the ice creeping up the shore. 

The creek feeding into the lake was full and flowing enough to have some open water, so I have great hopes of seeing the lake restored by summer.

Another morning we hiked through Leonard Springs -- a hike that begins with stairs going down the steep hillside.

Down, and down, with the waterfalls tumbling beside us, down to the very bottom of the steep valley that holds the park.

With all that water and a rare day above freezing we soon had giant glomps of mud covering our boots.

 

There were mallards peacefully paddling in the beaver pond.

           Love these quiet hidden places so close to home.

                                    
It was not so quiet in the University Arboretum where we hiked down to admire this colorful bush.  Besides the traffic zipping by, there was a mockingbird who fearlessly warned us off:  "No eating the berries! My berries!"

One day as a special treat for a Florida hiker, the woods filled with sparkly snow.

Every limb and branch and tiny twig outlined in white --wish I could get a picture that captured the incredible complexity and beauty of these winter woods.

Now my nose is cold and my toes are cold, and it is time to go back inside!

Furry company

"Don't forget about us"

"We came visiting too!"

"We made it into most of the pictures, didn't we?"

"And if we weren't right there in the picture of someone sitting at the table...

we were right underneath -- just in case something fell."

"There was a lot of sitting around but that's okay, we got a lot of petting."

"and there were nice soft places to nap while we waited for the family to DO something."

Frozen

The New Virginian ladies had thought of a perfect treat for me.

Here we go...

Yes, that's the the movie theater.  

I know, I know, I don't go to movies.

But here I am, with two of my favorite people, in the lobby.

(Oh, sorry about the blurring.  The ticket person snapped the picture for us.)

What shall we have....

why, popcorn, of course!

Can't remember the last time I had movie popcorn.  It was just as addictive as I remembered. Yum!

And the movie?

It was great -- I loved it!

I loved having people who enjoy animation and fairy tales to see it with.  I loved sitting next to someone who could sing along to all the songs!  

I love it that they thought of such an unexpected outing for me.

What a treat indeed!

Walking on Ice

Actually, literally, walking on ice...

there had been a flood before Christmas.  The water had covered the path at Bean Blossom Bottoms.  By the time we went out to hike, everything had frozen solid.  That path?  Scary slippery.
We kept hearing crashing off in the frozen meadows and woods.  Some big animal, it sounded like, maybe a bear or a woolly mammoth.  Every time I'd jump and look --nothing there.  Crack, crash, crack, crash.  It was the flood, you know, it had inundated the low lying areas up to two or three feet, then the surface froze.  And then the water under the ice cover drained away --and there was a sheet of unsupported ice, just ready to crack and crash when the winter sun warmed the surface.  We listened to the ice, to a full murder of crows, and to the silence of the marsh morning.
Took my new scope to look for birds.  A downy woodpecker here, a flock of sparrows there... not too exciting.  I packed the scope away and just as we were ready to leave...

something moved on the old eagle's nest in the distance.  Grab the binoculars, unpack the scope -- it's an eagle!  Warming up in the morning sun, turning this way, turning that way, giving us great views --and then flying away into the woods with great sweeps of its huge wings.

Worth walking on ice for!

And then, it's Christmas!

Hooray!  The Gang's all here!  

Christmas Eve

Gift giving began early on Christmas Eve.

Granddad was delighted when his caregiver arrived with surprises for him -  and he had one for her as well.  Being the impatient sort he'd wanted to give it to her way back in October when he first thought of it --it was with great difficulty that I kept him back until the 24th.

In keeping with family tradition, he adorned his head with ribbon - "You can call me Curly" he said.

Later HoosierKitty and Mimi arrived for dinner and a tray of goodies

and Granddad even roused himself to tell a story or two.

We didn't have our usual Christmas Eve open house,

but we were thrilled when little Rose, who has been coming to our house on Christmas Eve since she was born, arrived with the next generation - Little Cece, we hope to see you for many Christmas Eves to come!

Working our way up to the main event

Things progressed towards the 25th.

One day I took lunch over to Mimi's for an excuse to use her holiday plates.

She also had a rack of Charles's ties and I picked out some to share.

Another day I was delighted to attend a Cookie Party at Johnson's Meeting House - oh just look at that yummy festive table!-

hosted by the fabulous Dharma and her people.

And then there was the big deal day...

when the kitchen was full of power tools and a careful craftsman

and the hole that disgraced the cabinets for over a year was replaced with these marvelous drawers!

Oh yes, we're getting closer and closer.

As you have come to expect...

January finds me reviewing December.  Parts of December went far too fast, but what a lot we did in a short time!  There were weeks of preparation.

 While Granddad had a caregiver, there were trips out to the greenhouse, grocery stores, bookstores and even a trip to walk around downtown.

 When we were at home, we worked hard to get everything ready...cleaned and polished and put things away.

 Then there were the cards to prepare, the block to cut,

 the cards to print,

the coloring and addressing and writing and mailing to get greetings out to all of you.

 Not too much baking, but some...and the traditional spice tea to brew.

Then, the decorating! The stockings hung, the tree trimmed, the candles in the window, presents wrapped...

at last we were ready for the holiday!