Yet another year

Made it.  Again.

The eve was quiet.  I was fiddling with my computer.  Didn't even watch the ball come down in New York.  Tuned in for a moment earlier and got sick of Anderson Cooper and that horrid woman they team him with so turned to PBS and a program of piano music featuring Lang Lang and the New York Philharmonic.  Much more peaceful.

To bed long before midnight and a good sleep.

It is very cold outside.  21 degrees in the early afternoon.  Got down to 3 below zero last night.  But . . it's a new year and the sun is shining.

New Year's Eve

SWMBO was spectacular with a simple dinner.  An Alsatian onion tart and a salad of field greens and tangerine with raspberry vinaigrette.

 Accompanied with a glass (or two) of Prosecco.

Snow in Arizona at the end of 2010

Now, here is video proof of the snow that fell December 30th, 2010, outside my home in Prescott Valley, ARIZONA!


 

How to get from 2010 to 2011

There are a variety of ways to get through the turning of the calendar page from one year to the next.  One can go out, have a good (or worse) meal in a restaurant, drink copious quantities of champagne with friends (or complete strangers), dance, toot on paper horns while wearing paper hats, or . . . . you can do it like three "members of my family" do it.

May I present Muggles.

and Jazz.

and Blackwell.

And one more of Muggles.  Not because I love her any more than the other two.  It's just that she seems to be the most expressive sleeper.

From the three of them, from SWMBO (who is napping in another room) and from me - may you all have a most happy, healthy and prosperous new year.

December 31, 2010

2010 is going out like an iceberg in Arizona.  Here's a photo of Glassford Hill I took within the last hour.

I had to go down to the corner store and it was c-o-l-d!  How cold was it?  Here's the reading (in Fahrenheit) from my indoor/outdoor thermometer at 11 o'clock in the morning.

Needless to say, I will not be venturing out again until Monday, when the outside temperature should be up in the 30's, at least.  I mean, take a look at the sun.

So much for warm, sunny Arizona, huh?  Ah well, as we always say, this, too, shall pass.

Snow

Blackwell looks out the window this morning and says . . . WTF?

A little later, the sky darkens, the snow begins again and the wind picks up.

 

The beginning . . . and Tombo!

The storm that moved through California yesterday has arrived in my area - Arizona - today.  Mostly rain mixed with snow at my location but considerably sloppier in Prescott where more of the snow was sticking.  Out here in Prescott Valley, there was what the weather people are calling "snow mist" this afternoon.  Looks an awful lot like fog to me.

The snow is expected to continue tonight and tomorrow and colder temperatures should mean it will start piling up.

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I almost forgot to mention that I had lunch with the irrepressible TOMBO today . . he of Tombo's Blog and also of widespread travel.  Tombo is a Prescott, Arizona born-and-bred native who has decided to see a bit of the world.  He's recently returned from an amazing trip that took him to San Diego, all the way up the coast to Seattle, across the gut of the country to Wisconsin, NEW YORK CITY, Massachusetts, down the East Coast to Charleston, Key West, then back west to New Orleans and (new favorite) Lafayette (that's Lah-Fay-Et), Louisiana, Arkansas, New Mexico and eventually back to Prescott for Christmas.  But he won't stay long, he says.  Soon it's back on the road with his faithful companion, Scrappy Doo, to bigger and better horizons.

It was neat to see the well-bearded lad and hear of his adventures.  It makes a white-bearded old-timer like me a bit envious but glad he's doing what I only talked about many decades ago.

Travel well, Tombo.