winter break draws to a close

The past month has blown by too fast. Winter break, richly deserved, was a true break. I had plans to bail out the house—rearrange furniture, find a home for everything not nailed down, file papers, organize books and clothes, and so on. But with the dawn of each new day, I stretched deeply, put the boys on the bus, poured myself another cup of coffee, and engaged in whatever felt best. Most days what felt most relaxing was to do nothing, to just dial down and let non-franticisity make an impression—you know, something to tap into when stress piles on. And it will. Here’s what I did:

~traveled

We spent a wonderful week with John's family in Princeton, NJ. The cousins enjoyed each other's company and were sad to leave.

~saw friends

Thank you all who helped me fill my time!

~ate good food

coffee cake (from Bittman, the yellow book), Greek-style pasta, Christmas cookies, dark chocolate-enrobed marzipan from Lubeck, the "variety" pho at Ngon Bistro (the broth, redolent of star anise, can cure all), foie gras torchon and duck breast on a wonderful date night at Meritage with Mr. Little Trooper, baked eggs florentine for lunch

~practiced yoga: chaturanga

~knit: two scarves (above: entrelac scarf in Noro Silk Garden) and one chunky cowl (below: Brown Sheep Bulky in rust, double strand, garter stitch every 10 rows, size 15 needles), plus one sweater started

~read

Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Girl Who Played with Fire, the first two books in Steig Larsson’s Swedish crime series. Compelling page turners with nice attention paid to setting (Stockholm) and to developing characters. I’m looking forward to reading the final volume, Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, which won’t be published stateside until May. John couldn’t wait until then and bought a copy from the UK. I’m just waiting for a friend to finish it so I can dive in.

~shoveled snow

Two feet (or so) fell while we were in Princeton. Most turned to ice. We have a very long walkway to the house, up a hill.

~made a home repair

Furnace died. More accurately, I oversaw the installation of a new furnace, which took the HVAC guy 11 hours.

~ran errands and restocked supplies

A trip to Cook's of Crocus Hill, a first-rate cookware store, resulted in a new nonstick pan. I resisted, but even the salesclerk said, "You need a pan for scrambled eggs." And, indeed, I love my new Swiss-made, non-teflon coated pan. Plus I scored an avocado green-colored ceramic vegetable bowl on the holiday clearance rack. A trip to Minneapolis' Sugar Sugar Candy shop capped winter break. I'll write more about it later...it was a mixed bag, to be sure.

~watched movies and TV

First season of Mad Men, which I resisted for too long. I love it. Stylish and dramatic, maddening. This was the soundtrack to my knitting sessions. Also, I saw Sherlock Holmes in the theater, which, the further I get from it, the more I love. Robert Downey, Jr. is all that. The Guy Ritchie-directed action was awesome. The special effects and CGI-created London sucked, but I can overlook those things. And, I took the little boys to see Avatar. Two Sundays ago we arrived at Roseville to find the 3D version sold out so flew to Highland to catch a non-3D showing, fifteen minutes later. You know what? Since the movie is special effects driven, I'm sure it's incredible in 3D, but we enjoyed the movie without.

And it was all good.