Sunday, December 08, 2013

Surprise Winter Wonderland

It was just cloudy and damp when I woke up this morning. It was still cloudy when I put on Brunch With the Beatles and started my Apples and Cinnamon Pancakes. John Lennon's life and tragic death 33 years ago were in the spotlight today. Among his songs we heard with the Beatles were "Revolution," "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away," "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)," "I Am the Walrus," and "In My Life." Solo songs highlighted included "Mind Games," "Imagine," "Instant Karma," and two of my favorites from the Double Fantasy album, "Woman" and "Just Like Starting Over."

Called Mom briefly after breakfast. She was preparing for the Eagles game with the Lions at 1 and for my nephew Collyn's birthday party (he turned 5 today). She loves her grandsons, but she wasn't too happy about having to miss part of the game, as my sister Anny doesn't have cable.

The snow started to come down as we talked. I was originally going to ride my bike today, but then I saw how heavily it was falling. We were only supposed to get a dusting, but it was already piling up, even as I finished talking to Mom. I ended up calling Dad. Rose picked me up; she was out running errands anyway, and her van has 4-wheel drive. She had two small skids on our way to the Acme, but nothing that caused any damage.

The Acme was very busy when I first arrived. The combination of crazy weather and a really good Eagles game finally cleared out our customers. We were mildly steady from about 1:30 onwards. Most people were in decent, if rather surprised, moods. We were expecting a dusting of snow at most, not a blizzard!

I also got to see part of the Eagles game in the back room. Naturally, we weren't the only ones dealing with the blizzard. The Eagles were literally up to their ankles in six unexpected inches of snow. The Lions were winning when I saw the first few minutes of the 3rd Quarter in the back room. The Eagles made some very big plays in the second half when visibility became better. They eventually won the game 34-20.

The snow had let up a little by the time my cousin Mark picked me up in his huge truck at 4:30. Mark not only also has 4-wheel drive, but he's from Wisconsin. He's probably driven in worse snow! It was slow going, but we did finally make it back to my place. Thankfully, by that point, either my landlord or my neighbor or both had shoveled my porch and the path leading to the steps.

After taking some photos of the porch and woods in the snow, I went straight in the bathtub. Ahhhh, that felt really nice. It was so relaxing, reading How Mrs. Claus Saved Christmas and listening to classic Christmas music while the snow/rain fell softly outside my bathroom window.

When I got out of the bath, I made pasta fagiloi (pasta with beans and vegetables) for dinner and baked Fudgy Brownies while listening to three different versions of A Christmas Carol on LP. The soundtrack from the 1970 version of Scrooge with Albert Finney was a yard sale find a couple of years ago. That score has some nice songs, including the standard "Thank You Very Much." Peter Pan did a condensed Christmas Carol sometime in the 70s. And it's not well-remembered today, but Mickey's Christmas Carol was an LP first. Differences from the 80s special include more songs (I love the delicious "Money" for Scrooge and Mickey), Merlin as the Ghost of Christmas Past, the witch from Snow White as the Ghost of Christmas Future, and Foulfellow and Gideon from Pinocchio as the gentlemen collecting for the poor.

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