Daybook, Later February

Outside my window... there is fresh snow. Lots of it. Some people thought that spring was here, but I've lived in Michigan for over 30 years. Not in February, it's not spring. Not for another month yet, no matter how many nice days we may get.

I am thinking... how grateful I am that our kids bought us a snow-blower during the blizzard at the beginning of the month. And Roger is even more grateful!

I am thankful for... nowhere to go today. Our driveway may be clear (thanks again, kids!) but the roads are not. There was already no school today because of Presidents' Day, so the kids got cheated out of a snow day. Poor things.

From the kitchen... Enchilada Casserole. This is a lazy day meal which also uses up leftovers. I mix up any leftover taco or tamale meat, refried beans, chili, anything like that with some canned enchilada sauce. I put about 1/4 of the can of sauce in with the filling, pour another 1/4 into the bottom of a round casserole, and save the rest for the top. Then I make alternating layers of corn tortillas (10 to 12) and filling, ending with a tortilla. i dump the rest of the sauce over that, top with shredded cheese (some can also go in the filling), cover with foil, and bake at 350F for an hour or so, until hot through. Today I used a bag of seasoned meat and beans that I threw in the freezer some time in January. VERY lazy.

I am wearing... navy blue cotton pants, socks, and cable cardigan, with a bright raspberry turtleneck that Roger got me for Christmas.

I am creating... not much. I just finished the grocery list. I need to work on some stuff for choir, but since we don't have practice this week I will put it off until at least tomorrow and finish this daybook instead!

I am going... to Bible study tomorrow morning. And as few places as possible after that.

I am reading... well, I stayed up too late last night finishing Possession by A.S. Byatt. This is not my usual fare, and I've had it out from the library so long that when I return it tomorrow after Bible study I will owe nearly $1.50, even though I renewed it as much as I could. Miriel reviewed it here, and I'm not sorry I stuck it out and finished it, but I am ready to return to my preferred frothier stuff. Even though it had an acceptable ending. Apparently I am not quite as literary-nerdy as I want to believe.

I am hoping... that I can get to sleep at a reasonable hour tonight. 12:30 is too late for old ladies like me, even if I did sleep in until 8:15 or so.

I am hearing...classical music on Roger's computer. I almost never put on any music of my own, because the house is just too auditorily small, even though our desks are at opposite ends of it. Fortunately, I like his taste in music.

Around the house...everything is relatively tidy. This will last until Friday, when Arwen and Camilla and Blaise arrive. (The twins are coming too, but at this point they don't impact the organization of things. ;-D ) Bryan has a business trip, so we get their company.

A few plans for the rest of the week: Bible study, then on Thursday a concert at noon and lunch with a friend. We go out every year between our birthdays to celebrate. And yeah, I change decades on Sunday. (I was born in 1951. You do the math. Personally I am in deep denial that I could possibly be that old.)

Words I'm pondering :
"Hope not for minde in women; at their best
Sweetnesse and wit, they are but Mummy, Possest."

This is from John Donne's "Love's Alchemy", and the lines figure in the novel Possession, though I had heard them before. I am astounded that someone as wise about other things as Donne seems to me to be could be so wrong. But perhaps they are quoted out of context?

Here is a picture thought I am sharing.... This is from Brandon's blog, titled "Still Winter in Alaska." This is also pretty much what it looks like today in Michigan.