legography lately

i don't know what's happened to my words. they dry up in my head before i can coax them out my fingers, but with the light returning, at least i'm inspired to take some whimsical photos. it's probably also helped that we've actually had some snow. we hoped our lake would freeze enough that we might even be able to skate, but it thawed all weekend, so alas that isn't going to happen. but at least the ice was still solid enough for the minifig skater. the unicorn sparkle fairy continues to be my go-to fig, but i'm also having a bit of fun these days with batman. and getting quite a kick out of those aliens from series 13.

what's helping you through the shortest month?

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i hope these guys are finland's entrant in eurovision.

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it's never too late to discover LEGO, as this blog proves.

thank you, amy for introducing him to LEGO and for sharing with me!

inspired by the olympics

tho' i haven't watched any of the olympics as of yet,

it is everywhere. mostly in the form of tweets about the horrible hotels.

so i wanted to play with my snow-related minifigures.

our snow is pretty much gone, but i did find some snowdrops.

that wasn't quite the same.

then on the way to the grocery store, i spotted a bit of snow in a shady forest.

luckily, i had the minifigs in my pocket.

and the camera in the car.

as one does.

the snow wasn't very clean and it was melting fast.

probably thanks to the rain.

but i played a little bit anyway.

i'm sure people driving by thought i was mental.

but i know i'm not.

and that's enough, don't you think?

out skating

we all got skates for christmas, and we have our own lake, and it's cold and beautiful with the finest dusting of snow falling, so i'm afraid i can't be bothered to blog right now. i hope you are all having a wonderful holiday!

snow masks

late last evening, when the snow finally tapered off we went outside into the white, fluffy world,  all dampened and quiet by the new, pristine layer of snow. it was still and lovely and the perfect snow for playing. it made great snowballs and excellent snow angels. then, husband got the bright idea of making a faceprint in a clean stretch of snow. it was so cool, i had to run in for the camera.

the faceprints are really quite spooky. it's amazing how clearly you can see every wrinkle and the expression. what's also amazing is how they pop out of the picture, when in reality, they're pressed into the snow.

husband

me, clearly not relishing that faceful of cold.

sabin, wearing a warm hat

another one of sabin.

hers is spookiest, because it looks like a little girl buried in the snow.

aren't they deliciously creepy?

t minus 36 hours and counting

the danes think christmas is the 24th, even tho' they do refer to it as christmas eve, as one should. they torture their children by making them wait all day, until after the food is consumed and the dishes put away before finally letting the sugar-crazed, zombie-tired little darlings tear into their gifts. imagine how much more peaceful the day would be if they just waited until actual christmas, let the kids open their gifts in the morning like normal people and then they had their new games and toys to play with all day while the adults cooked. you know, like the normal order of things.

at our house, we try to do a bit of both. it works out because sabin's big sisters come to our house on the 25th, which is actual christmas, and i save a stocking of small prezzies for sabin to have in the morning. we do our big christmas meal that day and just have a good soup of some sort - tho' not my mom's oyster stew because i can never find oysters 'til after christmas - and some good bread on the 24th.

nigella fruitcake #95

as of this moment (midmorning on december 23), the only tree we have up is the little lego tree pictured above. and as you can see, the presents don't really fit under it very well. i baked up a storm yesterday - making a beautiful and easy fruitcake from nigella's christmas cookbook, a couple of loaves of cranberry-orange bread (recipe coming soon to domestic sensualist) and a thyme focaccia. when i wasn't baking, i was playing outside in the snow with husband and sabin and her friend, so there was no time to put up the trees (one big one and a little one for sabin's room), which we went out and cut down on monday.

after seven nearly uninterrupted hours of playing in the snow yesterday, around 8, sabin began complaining of a stomach ache. her cheeks got rosey (not in a good way) and her eyes glassy.  her friend, who was going to stay overnight, reluctantly tore himself away from her computer and went home with his parents who had come by to inspect the fort and have a bit of hot apple cider and freshly-baked nigella fruitcake. it was a good thing he did, because she spent the entire night throwing up, then fitfully sleeping for a little while, then throwing up again. and it's no better this morning, tho' now her little tummy is empty, so there's not as much throwing up. what a way to spend christmas!

will it be a white christmas?

at the moment, it looks like it will be a white christmas. at least if you look outside. the weatherman says something different. it's supposed to be above freezing and start raining tomorrow, so it just may be that all of this glorious whiteness is gone by christmas. so, we did our best to enjoy it today and it kept coming down the whole time. let's face it the weathermen have been wrong before, so we're keeping our fingers crossed.

husband set off with the sled and the snowboard.

sabin's friend used the old-fashioned wooden sled.

sabin tried out the snowboard.

it wasn't easy.

but far thought he'd give it a go.

he really bonked his head a good one.

and then he too accepted that it wasn't easy.

so we headed for home and decided to build a fort.

this is how dark it was at 2:59 p.m.

so we aren't really seeing the signs of that winter solstice.

yet.

it's now 5 p.m .and they're still out there.

i've just given them thermoses of hot apple cider.