Still Very Frozen

 On both Tuesday and Thursday I set off to ski at about 8am with the car thermometer indicating the outdoor temperature was -3°F on both days. I did wonder what possessed me to engage in outdoor activities at those temps, but on both days I had fun despite the inhospitable temps. The sun was shining both days and it warmed up to about 15°F which is tolerable. 

Tuesday was over to Mohawk Mountain in CT to ski with my sister Theresa. I saw my nephew who was busy on ski patrol duty and we rode the lift together to chat for a bit. He skis much too fast to stay with me so that was the last we saw of him. 

Theresa and me on the lift.

Heading up the hill.

Book club on Wednesday was devoted to discussing The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich. A good book, but another story that educated me on how terrible our country has been to so many peoples. We haven't learned our lesson because we are still being terrible to so many people. While it was well written and an important story to tell, it left me dejected. 

Our next book is Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir which I have already read, but will probably read it again to refresh my memory. The movie comes out in March which I'll see, but was disappointed to learn Ryan Gosling will be the lead - I'm not a fan.

Thursday, the hiking mates met at Brookhaven Winter Park to cross country ski a five mile loop. It was exhausting and I got a whopping big blister on my heel for my efforts. I definitely need new boots because it happens every time despite the moleskin I applied.  I took no photos even though the woods were beautiful and peaceful. I was just working too hard to bother with my phone! Geri and I didn't stay for lunch, but we stopped for my favorite maple French toast coffee with caramel macchiato creamer as a treat on the drive home.

Friday (today) we are under a Severe Weather Advisory because it is so cold. We will not get out of the single digits today and tonight will see -12°F or so. Peggy and I were going to head to Lake Placid Saturday for biathlon training, but we called it off last night. Neither of us had any desire to spend 4 hours outside in the mountains where the numbers will all be negative Saturday. 

I made this oat/yogurt/protein pancake bake with chocolate and blueberries for breakfast!
Healthy and delicious.

I'm hunkering down to domestic activities for the next two days. I have a little project I'm going to tackle. 

I bought this tile in Ireland in the 1990's and it has been sitting in a drawer for years. My dad made the wood base it is set into so it does have some sentimental meaning.  

I have been wanting a wall mounted magnetic knife holder, but the ones to buy are just strips of metal or wood, and all were too big for my space. I thought of how I could transform the tile into something beautiful and useful, per William Morris. I have lots of tiny neodymium magnets from my science teacher days which I can superglue to the tile to hold a few of my knives.  First try and the  magnets are proving to be stronger than the superglue and ripping each other off the tile. It's back to the drawing board for this project.

Annette came over for tea and we chatted about gardening and other things. I think we are approaching the point of being over winter. As they say in the memes, "it's January 84th today"! Time to get to spring!