And Christmas Is Done For Another Year

 


I found it odd that the river did not freeze at these temps. Lots of ice floating by though.

I employed my "low expectations mindset" for Christmas this year and it worked well. We had a very nice time visiting with almost all my siblings and some of their children too. It was fairly quiet compared to some of the bustling and loud events of the past. We got out for an hour to visit with my oldest sister and her husband which was nice. Mom is certainly showing her 92 year age, and was not able to do anything except give a couple of orders - which is as we intended. She is so frail lately, causing me worry and guilt. I will head back there once Glenn heads back to LA to just help her with daily living. 

I have very minimal photos for this post - not my usual as I'll usually go out of my way to capture something, anything for documentation. I did take a shot of my hometown from our room at the hotel where we stayed for two nights.  The Christmas weekend weather is well documented in the news, but suffice it to say that 48 hours hovering around 1-3 degrees means I was not going outside. Just getting from the car to a building was painful. I noticed it was lightly snowing at one point even though the sky was clear. This happens when the air is so cold it literally cannot hold any moisture and the ice crystals just precipitate out.

Nearly sunset at 4 pm. in an old factory town - Corning, NY.

The temps have since moderated into the 20's and 30's, maybe 40's for tomorrow when I hope to take Glenn to The Mount for the Night Woods display. She was supposed to fly back to LAX Thursday, but SouthWest had other plans - or lack of plans. We ended up getting her an alternate flight home Saturday and spending an extra $900 or so on another airline. We'll cross our fingers that we (I) get the costs back from SW. News reports indicate that they are taking responsibility for how badly they forked up, and plan to go beyond what is required in the way of compensation. We shall see.

I have a short woods walk tomorrow morning with my hiking group and I hope to take a bike ride Friday as the temps will be ever so close to 50 degrees. 

Comments

  1. MargaretDecember 30, 2022 at 12:40 AM

    Oh, I'm so sorry your mom got caught up in the SW mess! I never fly that airline; I'm an Alaska or Delta type. I share your low expectations of holidays and this Christmas surpassed those by quite a bit. However, my mom is as frail and failing as yours is so I sympathize with your worries.

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