Shadow Box for Mike

My brother is really into grapes. He's a man with a can and a plan and wine fermenting in the closet. We came across two old recipes in our grandmother's recipe box and mom says that our grandfather wrote the recipes. Seems the fruit doesn't fall far from the tree. We thought they deserved a place to live and this is what my mom and I created for Mike. Enjoy - I think he likes it!

The Freeze Continues

Here we go again. This time with freezing rain, sleet, ice and snow. I made it to work without any problems and we all left early in order to make it home before the roads were closed. As I got closer to home, I noticed everything had a coating of ice---everything is now frozen. The trees are cracking and some branches are giving in to the cold heavy burden. The big pine tree in mom's yard is losing some branches - I hope we don't lose the whole thing. That was a tree that we transplanted from our old house about 25 years ago. It's been through a lot of winters and storms...maybe it can make one more, at least. Chili is on the stove (it's not the Cincinnati style chili....it's Frisch's Big Boy style chili. Hope we don't lose our power -- the lines are icing up and getting heavier. Tomorrow's forecast is not any better. Can't wait to see what sort of adventure I'm in for in the morning for getting to work. Well, maybe I can wait. I love being cozy and tucked in here at home. However, I am wishing winter would end soon.....like this week. I've had enough. I took the pictures above just before I typed this.

The Deep Freeze

To add insult to injury, we received several inches of snow today to go with our single digit and below zero temps. What joy! The company closed early today and thanks to God's help, I made it home safely after a 1 1/2 hour-12 mile journey (that normally takes 15-20 minutes or so. Trying to stay warm and avoiding the chilly studio in the basement tonight, I came across this link on Cris Cunningham's blog. Haven't seen this in years and had forgotten how beautiful it is. Enjoy and stay warm, no matter what little corner of the world you are in:

http://www.theinterviewwithgod.com/

More Expressions of Sympathy

Last weekend, the father of one of my co-workers passed away after a battle with Alzheimer's. I spent the week making an accordian card for him and used some of the same quotes from the neighbor sympathy book (geesh, this has been a depressing year so far). Thought you might like to see it: