The cold of winter

It's been a while since I have blogged anything so I thought I would catch up.  We have enjoyed a nice week between Christmas and New Years, although I got caught up with a stomach bug for a day or two.  Lots and lots of football watching, although not with great results.  I was extremely happy to see the Redskins beat the Cowboys to make the playoffs, but we followed that up with bowl losses for both NC State and Michigan.

Cosette is like me.  She thinks that Christmas decorations are actually "winter decorations" and are meant to be enjoyed every day.

Today is Jasper's 9th birthday, although he doesn't seem to want to celebrate much.  I guess that's supposed to be 63 in people years, so I can understand the lack of desire.  He's still a bundle of energy though.  We were out in 2 degree weather this morning.  After chasing his ball-on-a-rope all through the snow, I tossed it and got it stuck in a tree.  He still has some huge vertical leaps in him.  He grabbed the ball, broke the branch holding it, and ripped it to the ground.

One of the advantages of a still, 2 degree morning is that you get some very pretty hoar frost. Everything sparkles like gems in the early morning light.

I had my good camera, but no macro lens and no tripod, so I was struggling to get everything focused while kneeling in the cold snow.  Some still came out pretty.

You really need to double-click on this one to see all the details.

The frost is so fragile and every bit of it is unique.

I was looking for a pretty leaf with some frost, and this was about as good as it got.  I think the remaining leaves were too high off the ground to get much frost.

Now our niece Kelly is coming to visit and hopefully some portion of the skiing crowds will have left. Back to the slopes!