I haven't been blogging regularly for a while (as you may have noticed). Now that I'm here to write, I'm not sure how much there is to say, but at least I can write brief catch-up summaries of the few things that do come to mind.
The Holidays--
Our holidays were happy and fairly busy. We visited my father's side of the family about a week before Christmas, this year, and spent the actual Christmas Day with my mother's side. (Generally, we alternate years, but it varies, depending on when visiting family are able to make the trip.)
We stayed up until midnight on New Year's Eve, though I must admit that for the last half-hour or so I would just as soon have been asleep. I guess I'm old enough now to not really see much point in staying up until midnight. (So sad. (g)) Maybe if there were something exciting happening at midnight, but when there's nothing much more than saying "Happy New Year!" and hearing some distant fireworks. . . (shrug)
We wound up spending New Year's Day at my maternal grandparents' house. I think everyone on that side of the family made it, so it was a full house again. After a tasty meal (complete with black-eyed peas and turnip greens for those who wanted to ensure good fortune and propsperity for the year to come ;o)) and some conversation, many of us went out for walks. Donald and I ended up going with my parents to look again at the future site of their new home.
(I think I mentioned before that it's been definitely decided that they're building, now? The location is within a short walk of our house and my grandparents' house. We'll none of us ever have to worry about inconveniencing someone to check on our dogs during our vacations. (g))
Resolutions for the New Year--
I hardly know whether it's more customary these days to make (and post to your blog) resolutions or to mention that you don't bother with resolutions at all. I fall more in the latter category, but if I did, most of them would be the usual-- exercise more regularly, eat more healthily, prune back distractions to focus on what's truly important to me, and so on. But since I really don't do the whole resolution thing, I won't. (Oh wait, I just did. . .)
The Weather--
(This is one of those things that feel silly to write about now, because it's been in the news so much that people are probably sick of it-- but someday it might be nice to remember that, oh yeah, this was the year we had that cold snap.)
So, we've been having this cold snap. . . ;o) Though our weather hasn't been record-breakingly cold, it's been very cold (with hard freeze warnings) for quite a few days in close proximity. (And if you ask me, lows in the teens and highs that don't hit 40 are plenty cold, even if they don't break any records.)
For someone who complains about how miserable it is most of the summer and makes grand plans for doing all sorts of yard work, come winter, I don't seem able to handle cold weather very cheerfully, either. Well, ok, that's not completely true. I'm fine as long as I don't have to stay outside too long, and bundling up properly really does make a world of difference. The heater helps, too (though I can't help but keep a subconscious reckoning of how much it's running). Still, I'd be happier if we could just stretch out autumn and spring for most of the year and forget this nonsense about summer and winter. (If that didn't mean the end of life as we know it, that is.)
The Consequences of the Weather--
We took what we thought were all the necessary precautions to prevent cold-related catastrophes, yet on Sunday morning (after we'd both had our showers, fortunately), we noticed a drop in water pressure. After a little investigation, we discovered that the water spigot at the site of our future garage had a burst pipe. (I guess we hadn't done quite a good enough job protecting that one.) We had to go buy a few supplies, but Donald was able to replace the cracked pipe, and he seems to have done it well, because so far, it's holding up. It wasn't a difficult repair, but figuring out the problem and fetching the supplies still turned out to take a big chunk out of our day. Frustrating-- but thank goodness it was something we could fix ourselves!
Other People Dealt with Worse--
Donald's family had some trouble with their electricity and telephone service (and maybe Internet, too?), at different times, recently. No electricity in a Swedish winter can't be comfortable, so all things considered, I shouldn't complain too loudly about our little troubles. (Everything's working again, now, as far as I know.)
Project 365--
It's still going. I haven't given up on it, yet, and I'm unlikely to, at this point. Of course, I'm fully capable of forgetting to take a photo, one of these days, but even if I do, I'll just take two the next day. So far, though, I've taken at least one photograph every day for eighty-nine days. (I haven't always uploaded one per day, but I'm giving myself a pass on that issue.)
My project photos are sometimes-- alright, often repetitive. (There have been lots of photos of dogs-- one in particular-- for instance.) Since it's mainly for my own entertainment, I'm declaring it "OK". Why shouldn't it be repetitive, after all? Life itself is pretty repetitive-- or at least mine is. (Well, maybe that's a weak excuse. . .)
Part of me is a little (teeny-tiny bit) jealous of people who waited to start similar projects (or goals, challenges, whatever you want to call it) until the first of the year. I'm not sure why. I guess it just makes more sense to start this sort of thing at the beginning of the year. Of course, there's nothing stopping me from keeping it going past photo 365/365. . . (We'll see. . .)
Other Projects--
There are many that need attention, some of them very interesting and others less so. It's just a matter of kicking into gear on some of them (and trying not to ignore the less interesting ones too long). . .
