went to mail a few thank you notes and thought it was cool how frosty it was at the mailboxes. today was the official holiday. much to my friend tanya's daughters dismay...no school, which meant another monday walk with her mom and her mom's friends in sub zero temperatures. we did do an abbreviated loop just for maddies sake. one day i'm sure she will thank her mother for all those long walks. lena on the other hand told her husband and 3 sons that she needed some girl time. they were all out at a cabin for the week i think.
it was blossom and 4 malamutes. she enjoys them, but for some reason once she starts to play with one she has them all on her so i do have to intervene on occasion. poor girl. they are some beautiful dogs though i must say. they look quite impressive out there on the trails. 
tanya with a less than happy maddie. 
my phone rang at 0600, it was my brother calling from boston. i work nights so i'm generally not too awake at 6am. when i remind my brother of this he always seems to acknowledge it loosely and then chat on. gotta love him. so we got a chance to catch up this morning for a bit, though i may not be able to recall all the details. since i was up i went down and turned on the rose parade. i missed the first part and eventually found myself waking for the ending of it. later in the day i was able to watch the last part again. so i saw bits and pieces of the parade in pasadena. may try tonight to see the first part and see what my hometown float turned out like. i grew up in south pasadena, they usually have a smallish but fun float. i think the rose parade is one of the reasons i'm not too big on the usual new years eve celebration. i spent many a year out on that parade route. it's a 5 mile long party with friends. you camp out and other friends cruise colorado blvd in thier cars, picking you up and dropping you off after cruising. at midnight you aren't lighting off fireworks so much as you are moving all the chairs and gears to the blue line in the street. before midnight your stuff must be kept on the curb, at midnight you get to make your claim for prime parade watching space. when i was as young as 5 i believe i was out selling rose parade programs for a church fundraiser. often going door to door or we'd hang out at the float building site on euclid? can't recall which street that is now. tourists would get to go through the building and we'd sell em programs outside. we also went a few years to the parade route early morning and sold programs there. i remember being on one of the big bridges and being totally impressed when the big bands came past. that bridge was taking every beat. that was the only parade i knew for years and i was incredibly unimpressed the first time i was taken to a normal community parade. yes, i'm a parade snob to this day.
had a nice gathering at the kaladis after the walk. sandra and scott eventually joined us and lena was even able to come and chill for a bit. kids not in school so no pick up required. the hot cocoa was much needed after our journey in the cold.
everyone is happy but maddie. she claimed to have gotten frost bitten on her face. not to worry, she was fine. kids are adorably dramatic at times. rio stayed home on the couch. may get her out tomorrow. she doesn't mind skipping the cold days though. 
the dogs had fun romping about on the pond or bog or whatever this thing is out there. not sure how deep it actually is. too many mosquito's out there in the summer to wander too closely. 
little more cleaning done this evening. i realize it's a bit early for spring cleaning, but i get busy with outdoor stuff once spring hits. just found another project i'll have to get worked on. i have a little outdoor cat shelf that opens to the inside. the plexiglass cover to it got trashed by a snow dump from the roof i'm guessing at some point. not sure what happened. after i had gotten the tree down inside i noticed the damage. bummer. i get in cleaning modes. it happens so rarely that i really have to take advantage of it when it does happen. 
i do love tossing stuff. it's so easy to hang onto stuff just cause. sentimental value is often just not reason enough. i mean i finally tossed this needlepoint thing i'd started in my pre-teen years and had never finished. it was half done and has remained so for decades. i've moved it from place to place wondering what to do with it, how to salvage it. i finally just tossed the dang thing. it's a peanuts theme. gone now. i highly doubt i'll be sitting here in ten years regretting that i didn't hold onto it for 10 more years. memories are yours. they stay with you as long as your memory allows. some day when you die somebody goes through all your crap haphazardly. with death it's rare people have time to meticulously go through your crap. keep, sell, donate, trash...that is eventually what happens to all our stuff. best to not attach yourself too much to it. enjoy it while you have it, but don't live for it...and certainly don't bury yourself in it. 
these last two are actually taken by tanya and her daughter maddie. i'm borrowing them. thanks tanya for taking a picture of me from time to time. document my slow aging process.
the kaladi's group for the day...sandra, tanya, me, scott and lena!i'm thinking the 28th or 29th for a pool night at my house. not a swimming pool, but the pool table in my garage that prevents me from parking in relative warmth and keeps me scraping snow and ice off my car. the more you use it the less you care about the loss of the garage! that gives me a few weeks to clear the crap out of the garage that has prevented pool parties of late.
well...i'm off to bed. before midnight!! finished the first 4 seasons of big bang and now can return to some of my other movies and entertainment. night..
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