Wow, can you believe this weather?

Cat on Radiator, Snow on the Ground

This week we have seen very cold temperatures with lows in the single digits early in the week, then almost and inch of snow (first of the season and it is January!) then on Sunday sleet and freezing rain, then rain with a little thunder and lightning thrown in. This morning I woke up to our thermometer reading 53º after delicately treading on ice in 32º to get into the house last night. Extremes, they can be fun and exciting or they can be dangerous. This week promises to provide us with more interesting weather with more cold and snow coming after a couple of mild days. It is Chicago and it is winter after all - though a very unusual winter.

Yesterday was Anika's birthday - 9 years old! I asked her if there were 37 candles on her birthday cookies and she informed me that she is 9 and not 37. It appears that Anika had a fun birthday. And I was thrilled that she was willing to talk to me on the phone! Usually she does not want to talk but on her birthday she did - thanks Anika! John has promised to post more pictures. I will post a link to them when available.

 

Also yesterday because of our lovely weather Sharon made seven beautiful loves of bread. I think she was more productive than I as her loaves were both lovely and delicious. We delivered loaves to neighbors and took some to the Gramas house. My day was an easy combination of reading, looking at bills that are or will be due this month, and photographing strawberries and bread. We finished that day with a fun meal at the Gramas house.

 

Today I am procrastinating by writing on this blog and editing some photographs. My real task for the day is to be Colbyetta and do some cleaning. I did the bathroom then managed to divert myself! Vacuuming and mopping are on the agenda. I suppose I should get to them so I can get into the workshop and do some cleaning there as Colby not Colbyetta. But then I was thinking of moving some things in the studio then setting up a backdrop or two for some still life photography. Tell me, how to I trigger my studio flash with my EP-2 which does not have a built-in flash or a PC connector? This gives me a new procrastination method!

 

 

 

 

 

Mole Poblano

Yesterday Sharon spent quite a bit of time making mole poblano and then cooked turkey breasts in the mole which she took to the Bistro to serve to the staff for comida. I suspect they were all very happy because we had it for dinner tonight and it was delicious. She is an wonderful cook and wife even after 23½ years! We had the mole poblano with turkey breast, black beans with onion and vinegar and tortillas.

I made stuffed jalapenos as an appetizer. Have you seen the size of jalapenos in the stores lately? They are huge! I stuffed them with a combo of chorizo, cream cheese, and a bit of cheddar. They were tasty despite their size.

I use two different apps for blogging on my iPad and neither one of them includes a spell checker. I find this to be a major pain. Generally my spelling is pretty good, but my typing is suspect. Anyone out there have a suggestion for a blogging app that includes spell checking?

Now on to my daily weather update. It got cold here! All day it has been in the 20s. I suppose winter has come back, even without the snow I long for. Ice has formed on the,pond again. Oh, and on the topic of the pond; normally the water level stays up because of the accumulation of snow on the ice. This year with the lack,of snow, the pond level is down. There is plenty of water so I am am not concerned and the fish seem to be fine, but is indicative of our lack of moisture this year.

Snow Tonight?

The weather service has predicted snow and freezing tonight we might finally have snow on the ground tomorrow morning. This week all of the ice on the pond has melted which is very odd for January in the Chicago area.

The above was written Saturday evening and I was hoping to wake up to at least a little snow covering the ground. No such luck. No snow here, and there is none expected over the next week or so. We continue with our snow less winter.

Awed by Technology

Tonight I watched a NOVA PBS show on Neanderthals. As I was amazed at the DNA sequencing technology in the show I was also amazed at how I was watching it. I was streaming the video wirelessly from my iPad to our Apple TV box connected by HDMI to our flat screen TV. The data I was streaming to the TV came wirelessly from our router connected to the Internet through old fashioned copper wires connected to fiber optic cables about 100 yards away. In 1985 data through copper phone wires moved at 300 baud. I could read text as it slowly scrolled across my Kaypro computer screen. Now I am watching video on a 48 inch LCD screen at a resolution of 1080p at 30 frames per second. This is all just freaking amazing!
A little over 100 years ago my grandfather was one of the first licensed wireless radio operators in Texas. I wonder how he would see where we have come since then? What will we see in the next ten years?

Did I mention it has not snowed?

I remember posting back in December something about a lack of snow. We are still waiting. We had perhaps a quarter inch a couple of weeks ago, but that has been it. Chicao officially has set a record for the most days without at least one inch of snow - it has been 321 days. On top of that, today we will hit the mid-40s and tomorrow we have a predicted high of 58 degrees. We are in serious need of moisture and I want to see some snow!

December at Casa Jordan

 

 

 

Brady was here from the Friday before Christmas until New Year's Day. I was remiss on photos but we had a great time. She seems to be always smiling!

 

The month was busy with work at Binnys for me and lots of client work for Sharon, both at home and on-site but local. We had a great Christmas Eve celebration at the Soler's in Chicago and a wonderful Christmas Day celebration at home.