Cold morning

We need to get 3M plastic fitted to our windows. The house is very cold this morning, and the high is going to be about 0 degrees Fahrenheit. I'm back to work and the girls are back to school starting today, and we're not moving very fast. The temptation to lie huddled under blankets is very strong. Delia will be eating her breakfast sitting on the kitchen floor, huddled up to the heat register.

Hopefully, I won't have to remind them to wear hats and mittens today.

The ice is finally thick enough to cut on Lake Phalen. It was 12" last Friday, which was the minimum thickness they needed it to be to start harvesting (and the first day they started to harvest it), but today it is 20". I didn't go out to see cutting or construction because I had the girls all weekend, and I don't want to take them along. It would just be too cold for them. Must make arrangements to take a day off work.

Twelfth night

We had our family 12th night feast, a ritual which involves eating on my great-grandmother's special gold-rimmed dishes, and 12th night stockings by each place at the table (filled with after-Christmas sale candy, cheap). The girls offered a 12th night play for our amusement after dinner. (They even included an announcement to the audience, their mommy and daddy, to "please turn off all pagers and cellular phones"). The drama was rather convoluted, and I didn't quite follow the storyline very well, but it involved a Panama Parrot and a Bluebird. Much dancing was involved.

Happy Twelfth Night, everyone.