more snow, more cold, and more

The Wisconsin imitation continues unabated! I'm pretty sure whatever weather service she was checking was wrong, but Lynn said the temperature was 9F this morning. My guess is that it was closer to 25F. Still cold-ish, anyway. The funny thing (not to Dunediners, of course) is that the temperature has been so constant, both during the day and at night, that the incredible amount of SLUSH sitting around has remained almost perfectly constant: where there was a half-foot of grey slush on the pavement Monday is exactly what there was today. Slippery, somewhat ugly, annoying, pants-cuff-wetting, and often deep-puddle-hiding.

To the right is a news photo of the Holyrood Monster.


It's been a long week, really. The kids had no school Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, and with only a half day today (Edinburgh state schools only do half-day on Fridays, for some reason, presumably to allow the general population to start drinking a bit earlier), she's pretty much had it with being a stay-at-home mom for the week. Not that she'll get much of a break for the weekend, but we'll figure it out.

Kenna did her first sleepover in Edinburgh (2nd in her life, I think) on Wednesday night. She stayed at Grace's house, and apparently had so much fun that she went right back there after school Thursday. Gracie is an only, so both she and her mom like having Kenna over. My understanding is that Gracie's had some health problems, and being in-and-out of hospital has limited her time making friends in school, so Kenna has been a very welcome presence for both Gracie and her mom.

Hannukah has had a bit of a slow start-- Taran's enjoyed the candle lighting but we've gone easy on the presents, mostly because the presents from Grandma Maris and Grandpa Harvey haven't arrive yet (again, weather issues-- normally stuff ordered from AmazonUK arrives in 2-3 days. The kids gave each other small presents last night, but tonight ran late.

Thursday was Lynn's birthday, and I'm afraid my intended plans for finding a present or even a card fell by the wayside because of scheduling, a manuscript resubmission, and the whole weather/school thing. I actually didn't leave the house between Sunday and Wednesday. I had a miserable day on Thursday, frankly, because I spent something like 6 hours accomplishing perhaps 30 minutes of actual work for the manuscript resubmission. I was not exactly in a good mood when Lynn and I went out for her birthday dinner, but we really hit bottom (no pun intended) when Lynn slipped and fell in the snow, bumping her head in the process. I was pretty sure we should've just gone home, but Lynn persevered and we had a nice dinner at Bon Vivant after all.

Tomorrow will be a bit busy-- tea with a colleague will require that Taran and I go pick up fruits at the store (and perhaps other necessities) in the morning. Then we'll try to go to the fair before the Hanukkah party with Sukkat Shalom. Sunday will be quieter. Happy Hanukkah!