A relaxing Christmas week in Rochester promised snow, sledding, egg nog, turkey and all the fixings, gifts, and, as is usual in the Bordeau household, plenty of Christmas cheer and songs. The sledding didn't work out, because the snow melted after Christmas and everybody except for yours truly had a stomach virus. Shane was getting over it when I arrived, and then his sister Alana came down with it on Christmas Day. Her husband, Rich, got it that night. I was terrified that I would get it, but I never did. Therefore, I got to partake of as many Christmas cookies as I wanted!
Happily cooking Christmas dinner (before the stomach bug)
Shane's nephew Cody/Santa Claus
Shane's sisters Joleen and Alana showing off gifts from Grandma
Shane sporting hat I knit for him
Shane's brother-in-law admiring Shane's handiwork on the truck he made for Cody
Shane's mom and Cody with the blanket I knit for him
Shane and I did get a chance to build a proper snowman on Boxing Day. It was huge. We made three snowballs by rolling them all over the yard -- laugh if you must, but I find it fascinating that the snow just collects on little balls, just like in the cartoons. The snowman fell apart and melted before we could get a good picture, but you can see the remnants in these photos of the backyard, taken after a fresh snowfall.
Shane's birthday is on Christmas, but we waited till the weekend to have his birthday dinner and cake. Shane's mom always makes birthday cake in a special shape, so Shane picked a reindeer.
Toward the end of our stay, we drove up to Niagara Falls.
TUCSON
After a harrowing journey that involved a delayed flight, which caused us to stay another night in Rochester, we arrived in mild-weathered Tucson. We stayed with my sister Rosalind the first night, and then we had breakfast with John Bauschatz (now professor of classics at the University of Arizona) and his wife, Retina, who graciously allowed us the use of their lovely home while they were away at a conference in Chicago. Julia Sapir and her beau Josh visited us on their way to Baja California, and we spent the evening cooking burgers and playing Trivial Pursuit (which I won, of course, heehee).
Julia & Josh visiting us in John Bauschatz's house
We decided to take my nieces Charlotte and Audrey to a ceramics painting place as their Christmas present. Charlotte painted a dog and Audrey painted a lion. Shane and I painted plates for them. We didn't see them after they were finished, so I hope they turned out OK!
After another flight snafu (I "missed" my flight because the check-in counter was closed one hour before my red-eye departed), I spent another day in Tucson before leaving for New York. Now I'm back, sleeping, knitting, and playing sudoku. I got a lovely new laptop that I received today and am working on getting up to speed. I'll have to go do some interviews and observations at the school I was working at last semester, because, alas, while classes and student teaching have not yet begun for me, I have to do some research for my thesis project. Back to the grind!
2 comments:
Gah! You were stuck in Tucson for another day? You should have gotten in touch with me and my wife, Iris! We would have been happy to entertain you by losing at trivial pursuit, painting pots, or what have you. Glad you're back in the Apple now, though!
Well, Anonymous, I would have gotten in touch with you, but it was very late by the time I was turned away from my flight, and I knew your wife, Cornea, would be teaching the next day, so I didn't want to bother you. I also got an earlier flight out of beloved TUS, so there wasn't much time to play trivial pursuit or paint pots. Till next time!
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