Storm Fizzles

The storm took forever to get here, but its clout was scattered. I saw photos from relatives east of me that showed snow covering the ground. There was no snow here. There was some rain during the night that I didn’t hear. I went to my church on line, where a mid-week service had been recorded to show today, in case weather kept the church closed. The tech showing it, from the comfort of his home, said the streets of Asheville were icy and dangerous.

On the weather map, all around my area the temperatures were 28 F (-2.22 C). Both of my outdoor thermometers showed 55 F (12.77 C). I was in a warm pocket!

Wind began to blow, with the intensity increasing rather quickly. The wind chimes and whirligigs flailed about in the garden. Slipping on gardening shoes, I rushed out to take them down. As I did, the wind roared on the nearest ridge and made the old oak tree dance. I don’t know that I’ve ever been outside in wind that heavy. I think I could have been frightened if I hadn’t been concentrating on the job at hand.

The background hum of the house changed as the heat pumps shut off and the generator came to life. The power was off! I texted neighbor Joyce, who is great at reporting our outages. I have the app for the power company, but I’ve never used it successfully. She soon sent me a screen shot from the company that said the estimated restore time was unknown and 109 accounts were affected. In a very short time – minutes, not hours – the power was on again! Amazing!!

I was writing this and stopped to enjoy the holiday lights on Holly’s house. Texting her, I told her how lovely they looked. She texted back that Logan was eating dinner with her, and she was sending him over with a bowl of her Cincinnati chili. A minute or so later he was at the door with the warm chili and extra cheese and onions. Wow! My neighbors are THE BEST!!

Temperatures are on the way down now and are forecast to be 6 F (-14.44 C) tomorrow night. I’m thankful the rain, snow, sleet, wind, and cold air didn’t hit all at once while the power was out.

Waiting for the Storm

The snow/ice storm has been at the top of the news for days and days. It was supposed to sweep over much of the country, dropping snow and freezing rain. I’m eagerly waiting to see what will happen, because if a storm is hyped for days, it rarely delivers really bad weather. It’s already over 24 hours late, which is nothing new.

David and I went to the grocery store one day before the storm. Normally people rush out at the last minute to buy bread, milk, and eggs. I’ve seen bare shelves in New York stores, but Ingles (my favorite store here) appeared normal. The shopping crowd seemed about the same. David and I noticed only one shelf that was totally bare. Want to guess what had been there? Bottled water! That makes sense, because if people with a well don’t have a generator, the pump in the well will not run if the electricity is off.

I walked as usual the morning of the storm, spotting at least 15 snowflakes drifting down. I wouldn’t have seen them if I hadn’t run into them. Snow is fun to watch when you can see it, but darkness may fall before this storm lives up to its name. On Friday, both churches I have gone to announced no services on Sunday. That includes one church on Long Island and one in Asheville, 1,261 km (783 miles) apart.

If this storm does begin and if my power fails, I won’t be reading and responding to email or blog posts until systems are put back together.

Marching Orders

My wonderful physical therapist added a new exercise to my routine, evidently on a trial basis. I have watched the small video and read the instructions on the phone app, but the actual exercise is not ready to play. That is a good thing, because I can’t do it yet. It is called Single Leg Balance Walking with Trunk Rotation. The instructions are to begin in a standing upright position with your arms crossed straight in front of your chest. Raise one leg to 90 degrees, then slowly twist your body toward the same side and hold. Return to facing forward, then lower your foot, taking a step forward to repeat the movement on the opposite side. The added tip says to perform near a wall or counter support.

I tried this in the kitchen and flailed about, trying not to fall down. The title for me should have been “Windmill”. There are 10 reps, so you’re traveling a bit. I was just not wanting to travel down to the floor! Making no headway after three days, I devised a plan. I would march myself in the hallway with sturdy walls on both sides. To begin, I would only lift one leg, pause for balance, and take a step forward. Forget the twisting for now. The theory was good, but I kept forgetting to do it.

Now I have my marching orders in place.

A Continuation of Music

Having just played ALL our Christmas CD’s, I decided to continue listening to general music. This time I’m playing the discs that I collected through the years. I haven’t played them since I moved here eleven years ago. There was music in the house during those years, mostly John’s playing his music. That was fine, since I liked nearly everything he played.

I just put one disc in the reject pile. It was a trio, three women playing music for violin, cello, and piano. There were three selections on the disc, and only one was bearable. The others were modern and screechy. I must have bought it myself, but I wonder why.

Continuing with the following disc, I found myself listening to ocean waves on a beach. I knew what was coming. I unexpectedly reveled in it! The CD player was in the kitchen, and I was in the living room, typing on the computer. It was easy to imagine I was sitting inside, listening to waves crashing on a nearby stretch of sand. I enjoyed the rhythmic, foaming sound, even though I never heard that sound except in hot weather. My imagination was helped by wearing three layers of clothing, which kept me warm on a very cold day.

Dust Covers


I washed the Christmas shower curtains before putting them away. For drying, I draped them over furniture on the back porch. The moisture was gone almost immediately, but I wanted to make sure they were completely dry. Bringing them inside, I tossed them over chairs and left the room. When I came back, the first thought I had was that someone had put dust covers out in preparation for a lengthy absence. English movies have shown such a scene when the upper-class family was going for a stay in their country home. All the furniture would have been shrouded in dull covers to keep them clean. My chairs felt very special, being covered in Christmas glory.

Too Much Christmas Music?

I didn’t begin to listen to Christmas CD’s until daughter Lise went back to Denmark on December 7. I wanted to keep the airways cleared so that we could talk without shouting. I began rather slowly, starting one when I was pretty sure I’d be in the kitchen with it. The pile was not diminishing quickly, so I began putting a new one on as soon as the last one was finished. I wasn’t out of earshot often.

I finished listening to all of John’s CD’s a few days ago. All of the standard Christmas music had been in one storage tub in the garage. I’m sure some of the discs were mine originally, but I had another small tub of things that only I would listen to. There were a few for Winter Solstice, and John would not have listened to those. The others had Christmas music done by New Age performers. I used to play those at my desk at work. People would hear music only as they walked through to go to the kitchen or to go out of the office.

I rejected 6 discs before I started playing them. There were 127, with music ranging from Medieval times to the twentieth century. I’m playing the last few from my tub, 29 in all. This has certainly been the loudest Christmas I’ve ever had. I can’t think of any time I enjoyed music more.

About an hour ago I heard something begin to play and listened carefully. I thought I heard a tune that was not related to Christmas. It was “Mary had a little Lamb”. Before I could get critical, I wondered which Mary in the last 2,000 years it was referring to. Surely it wasn’t Mary, the mother of Jesus, but you never know. Maybe I’ve had enough Christmas music for this season. That is proper, since many churches celebrated Epiphany today instead of waiting until January 6.

My Scales Laughed!

My bathroom scales laughed before the sun rose on the first day of 2026! Where I expected to see a four-digit number, there was LO. Being used to LOL, I translate that to Laughing Out.

Just perhaps, it stands for “The battery is getting low. Time to change it.”

Before the scales could refuse to work, I found one button battery in the house that was the right thing. I’ll buy more today, but this won’t need to be changed for years. I may have replaced it two times in the last 10 years. Before I take another breath, I should send a mental thank you to the scales for being so faithful.

Celebrating the Year

The neighbors I rave about came together to celebrate the end of the year. We have never dressed up to visit with each other. This year one asked if she could wear pajamas, and another answered that she could if she was decent. Of course she looked fine. I wore lounge pants as part of dressing down.

We talked non-stop while nibbling on snacks. We were all glad no one has seen the skunk since Joyce’ s exterminator set off a bomb in a culvert under our street.

Two households had been targets of a scam from the internet provider we all use. That was a bit sobering.

My house seemed to be the only one that an orange colored male cat had not visited. No one is feeding the cat, but they said he looks healthy.

We were interested in hearing about Joyce’s Christmas, spent in a bed and breakfast house in the mountains of Arkansas. Her two daughters, one son-in-law, two grandchildren, and a dog were with her. It was wonderful to be together, but the nightmarish side was sharing the house with roaches, spiders, and deer ticks (the ones that carry Lyme disease).

We have all been amused at Bob and Shawn’s dog. When they have been out and have Izzie in the car, they let her out at the top of the street. She races the car to get home first.

Holly related how she met the newest neighbor. His dog escaped and pooped in her yard, and he was apologizing for it. I must be the only person who has not met him yet, although I wave at him fairly often as he drives past me while walking.

Cindy lives on a different street, but she is part of our neighborhood. She had just come back from visiting her daughter and family for Christmas. She says she always comes home sick, and this time it was a chest cold. Since she stayed home to protect us, we took a photo to send her. The pajama-clad one volunteered to take the photo with my phone.

Left to right are Jeff, Shawn, Anne, Joyce, Holly, and Bob.

Family at End of Year

Niece Kathie had the brilliant idea of getting us together before the year ended. She, Bob, and Beth carpooled from the middle of the state for part of the trip. Niece Julie and Mike had the dog Gumball with them. It was so rewarding to relax and catch up on everyone’s news.

I often take photos of people at the table, but the sun was not cooperative. It was shining much too brightly. No one wanted to shut out the sun on a very cold day, so they agreed to pose in another room.

Above are my brother Bob, wife Beth, Mike with niece Julie, and niece Kathie. Gumball posed, too!

Increasingly, I miss parts of conversations in groups because my hearing is fading. I have a story to repeat, but it has holes in it. Kathie and son Max flew to Texas for a few days to be with her late husband’s family. Someone (hole one) ordered two boxes of snowballs for someone else (hole two). Yes! Snowballs!! It really doesn’t matter who was involved. Children in that part of Texas don’t have snow, or certainly not enough to make snowballs. In the evening, when the temperature had cooled off, they opened the snowballs and began throwing them at each other. It didn’t last very long, because the balls were very hard, perhaps hurtfully so. Waiting a bit, they really let loose and had a rousing snowball fight. The idea of buying balls of snow tickled my fancy. They bought an experience that is not normal for that area. What fun!

We’ve now texted each other, so I know all have safely returned home.

Christmas Day

I documented parts of the day to share with my far-flung children. They would remember that we always had German stollen for breakfast. Thanks to Lise’s taking me to Aldi’s, I was set.

I attended church online last night, as well as this morning. I’m so grateful that this is possible.

Neighbor Logan (15) came over to show me what he had gotten for Christmas, and it was as much fun as opening things myself. He wore his new bag, talking about how much it would hold.

I saw what he meant when he took it off and opened it up. It’s large enough to hold a basketball! He’s going to use it when he goes to basketball games and needs to pack extra clothes and shoes.

Logan was also pleased with new clothes. He modeled fashionable baggy jeans, new sandals, and socks.

I wanted to see him using his new game player, which was taking a while to load. Suddenly he got a text from Holly, asking him to come over to check out a burning smell. Emergencies first! Logan went to her house on the run. I never saw smoke, so thankfully nothing was on fire.

I was impressed with Logan’s appreciation for his gifts. Nothing was taken for granted, and he was eager to share his good fortune. He patiently let me take photos, which people have said they are eager to see.

The day passed quickly because of the church service, phone calls and text messages. Although I was home alone, it was not quiet! I played John’s CD’s all day at volumes that could have been uncomfortable for others. It was a lovely way to spend Christmas.