matching tracksuits

fun in threes, sometimes fours

Snow

A snowy Sunday morning really has to start with bacon, eggs, and a couple of cinnamon buns. The long-awaited snow arrived, beginning last night, and we were all excited to see white outside in the morning.

As is the case more often than not when we finally do get snow, there was not much of it to speak of. Wet and heavy, it sat on the yard with blades of grass sticking up almost everywhere.

The kids were eager to get out as soon as possible, especially E.

"Let's make a snow fort!" he squealed.

"I don't think it's good snow for that," K tried to explain. "It's too wet. Wet, wet, wet," she said, but E wasn't convinced. What six-year-old living in South Carolina would be? Snow is snow is snow.

We had similar a year ago:

Slush

Heading out, we discovered the freezing mix that followed it had coated most everything with a layer of ice, leaving K to worry if her rosemary bush, which seems indestructible, might indeed finally die. But there were more important things, like a dog that was thrilled to be in the snow and two kids almost as excited.

We decided to head out and see what the neighborhood looked like. Part of that was to gauge how K might make it to work tomorrow and part of it was to estimate whether we'd be heading back to school on Wednesday or Thursday.

Monday and Tuesday, we knew, would be a wash. The temperature is supposed to drop Monday night, leaving everything an even slicker mess, and even if it didn't, our county is huge, running up into the foothills up north. Even if it's passable here, it's not there.

Our exploring showed us that we weren't the only ones out: there were a few tracks left behind by brave souls -- tongue in cheek there -- who went out in the snow (which was more slush than anything on the road and entirely drive-able), and we encountered a couple returning home with staples in hand -- beer and chips.

The Boy, golf club in hand, enjoyed exploring all the places the slush looked like ice. He slapped and swung at every slushy puddle he saw.

The Girl was thrilled to have the dog in tow.

In the evening, K made the pierogi and uszka we'll be having Christmas Eve. The Boy got to play with some dough, and I was given the boot since I don't work well with perogi, K in formed me.

Coming Snow

We've heard about it all week, which is typical here in South Carolina. Yet it's so unpredictable that forecasters no longer call it "a winter storm" or "a snow storm" but rather "a winter weather event."

At the beginning of the week, the story had it that it was supposed to start Saturday morning. There would be tons of snow or tons of ice or both. And what fell would stick around for a while, because the temperature was supposed to stay low for some time.

A bit frustrating -- using up a snow day just a couple of weeks before winter break. The make-up day switches to a regular school day, and we lose that little respite in March or April when we actually need it.

But in the end, there's little purpose in fretting about it. The weather is out of our control, and the decision to cancel school is out of our control.

What was in our control today was how to spend the rainy, cold evening. We're probably the last on our block to put up our Christmas tree, but we have an excuse: K's Polish roots require -- demand -- a compromise on the "Up Just After Thanksgiving" (or, these days, before Thanksgiving) "Down On Boxing Day" American tree tradition and the "Up a Couple of Days Before Christmas Down at the End of January" Polish tradition.

We go mid-December to mid-January. Today I guess we were a little ahead of schedule.

And the snow? As I write, there's a light dusting on everything and more coming.

Nana’s First Hospital Intake

Nowy Targ Cemetery

Winter Sunset, Jablonka

 

Wednesday Evening

Math homework with the Girl; Christmas cards with the Boy; toys with Clover.

Family Game

We had a little family game time this evening. L came downstairs and asked if we could play Forbidden Island or whatever that game that has a 15+ page instruction book is called. I’d laughed at the rules earlier when L and K were trying to figure it out: three different decks of cards (or is it four), multiple little things you can do, a turn that seems to last forever — it just seemed overly complicated.

Tonight, I sat down with them and let them explain it. Fairly simple when it comes down to it — I guess I just wasn’t willing to do the work at the beginning, digging through the instructions and figuring it out.

It’s interesting in that instead of playing against the other players, you’re all trying to accomplish the same goal. Cooperation instead of competition.

A great way to spend the evening.

Inside the Nowy Targ Bus Station

Zakopane in November

Playing in the Hall

The Last Few Days

The Boy has been watching the Netflix series Extraordinary Houses. He loves it. Loves it. He’s started designing houses in his free time.

The Girl has been getting into math that requires assistance. K is only too happy to help.

Lipnica Sunset

I look at some of the images from my time in Lipnica Wielka, a little village on the southern border of Poland (who would think to move there?!), and I find it difficult to believe I actually did live there. It is so far removed from my present reality, so very distant and foreign, that I find it difficult to comprehend how I came to live there and how, after two years in Boston, I came to return there.

I lived there seven years — seven — and loved almost each and every day of those approximately 2,100 days.

Saturday Repeat

Exactly a year later and we repeat the same day.

Conestee Afternoon

The Day After

Thanksgiving 2018

The day began with the relatively new Thanksgiving tradition: K and L went to Mass at the church we used to attend (which we still attend once a month for Polish mass, said now for a couple of years in English by a Columbian priest) for the parish's special Thanksgiving Mass. The choir sings portions of the Mass in English, portions in Spanish, portions in Polish, and portions in Tagalog. As they do for any special Mass, the girls dressed in traditional Polish Highlander clothes.

While the girls were gone, the Boy continued with his help.

We prepared the turkey, made the requisite casserole, made the dressing, cooked the giblet gravy, and then baked it all. Except for the gravy.

We packed everything up and headed over to Nana's and Papa's for a quiet late lunch/early dinner. Everyone said it was delicious, but I wasn't entirely satisfied with what I delivered.

  • The dressing was a disaster: too much liquid. I forgot to figure the fact that I'd added orange wedges and cranberries, which released a ridiculous amount of liquid.
  • The cranberry sauce was a bit too sour for my taste. I'd cut the recipe's sugar requirement by about 30%, thinking, "American recipes are always too sweet." Perhaps not. It wasn't as much of a failure as the dressing, but I've made better.
  • The turkey probably could have cooked a bit longer. It was done, but it clung to the bone just a bit too much. A half an hour more would have made it better, I think, without overdoing it.
  • The syrup for the baklava was just a touch too thick. It didn't entirely absorb into the fillo dough -- at least not like I like it. It wasn't bad, perse, but it could have been just a little better.

Still, we're always a little too hard on ourselves. K pointed out that we could simply bake the dressing a little longer tomorrow. The cranberry sauce was perfect for her. The kids devoured the turkey. And even I can't really complain about the baklava. I just wanted a fourth bullet point for that list for some reason.