Dorothy and Trees

We went out this morning to cut Christmas trees for ourselves, my mom, and brother. We usually go to Pennsylvania for a tree and visit “the farm.” In the past we cut trees there but they are all to big at this point, so we go on from there to Seven Springs Tree Farm and cut our trees there. This year, we thought we’d head north, even though the forecast was for a significant snowfall. As we came down the hill into the Frederick Valley, the temperature dropped from 36°F to 31°F and the snowfall because significantly heavier. Since we still had a long way to go and it was getting steadily worse, we decided that discretion was the better part of valor and turned around. We ended up cutting the tree at Butlers, which isn’t nearly as much of an outing, but we got our trees.

Green, Red, and Yellow Peppers

I took a quick trip to the grocery store this evening to top up our supplies of milk, eggs, and bread, plus a few other things. I’ve been taking my camera with me everywhere I go for almost three years now and in general, I’ve gotten used to having it. The grocery store is one of those places I still feel a little self conscious about it but there are lots of things to photograph there, so once in a while I’ll take a picture. This evening’s is of green, red, and yellow bell peppers. One of the few things I don’t like the taste of and try to avoid if at all possible, but they sure are pretty.

Sashimi

Cathy and I went out to dinner this evening. Since she asked me to pick the restaurant, I opted for Niwano Hana, a Japanese restaurant in Rockville. Cathy had tempura and I went with the deluxe Sashimi Assortment. As you can see, it has a pretty wide selection of fish and was as good as it looks (or better, if you don’t like the look of raw fish). Anyway, I enjoyed it, as well as enjoying an evening out with my beautiful bride.

Snow on Black-eyed Susans

On Sunday it snowed, then yesterday we had freezing rain, covering everything with a coating of ice. This morning, just after I got up (to find that school was canceled again) it started snowing. I don’t think they needed to cancel school today—late opening would have been enough, but then that’s not up to me. I went out into the yard and took pictures of the snow. I’d say we had between two and three inches. These are black-eyed Susans growing in our front garden, with a little bit of snow added.

Snowfall

We had our first real snowfall today. The forecast was possibly a little more dire than the reality but it actually did snow and it make the roads quite slick for a little while. I heard of two people that I know who had accidents and we saw another. We came home by a less windy road than normal and didn’t have any trouble but on at least one occasion I had to rely on my anti-lock breaks to get the car stopped in time. It wasn’t terribly cold, right around freezing, which is when snow is the most slick, of course. Beautiful, too, of course.

Christmas Balls

We helped Cathy’s mom get Christmas decorations out this evening and I took a few pictures. I’ve always loved reflections. Hold on, I’m going to stop and think about that for a minute.

Alright, I’m done. This is a picture of one of those shiny, mirrored Christmas balls, with more Christmas balls reflected in it (as well as the photographer. As you can see, I bounced the flash off the ceiling, which made a bright spot, but not so bright as if I had aimed it straight at the balls.

Potatoes and Kale

I went to the grocery store this evening to buy a few things. Included on my shopping list were potatoes and kale, both of which are ingredients in caldo verde, a Portuguese soup that I plan to make for Sunday. When I was younger, I didn’t care for cooked greens but now I like them quite well. The soup is good, being thickened by the potatoes, which are cooked until they basically fall apart. Unfortunately, I have to make it ahead, and that means that by the time it is served, the kale will have lost its bright green color. It will still taste the same, but won’t be quite so appetizing a color.

Cracked Crackers

I don’t have a lot to say about this photograph. We had cheese and crackers out this evening, as we often (almost always) do when people come over. Some crackers were broken so they didn’t get put out. Don’t you hate it when you open a box of crackers and they’re all smashed up? But what can you do? Anyway, there were plenty that were not, in this case. Those that were got left in the kitchen and I took this picture after everyone had left. Even little pieces of cracker are fine, though, for some types of cheese, so they got eaten.

Dorothy at Wonder Books

Dorothy needed a copy of Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut, for book club in her literature class. She wanted to be able to annotate it, so we went to the local used book store to buy a copy she could write in. We found that and browsed a little while, coming home with about a dozen books. I love a good, used book store. There are actually two in our area, Wonder Books (which used to be the Book Alcove) on Shady Grove Road and Second Story Books on Parklawn Drive. I can spend a lot of time in either of them, but really, I shouldn’t be buying books when I have so many already waiting to be read.

Thanksgiving Pizza

We had something of a non-standard Thanksgiving today. We usually go to Cathy’s mother’s on Thursday and then to my mom’s on Friday. This year was a little different. I made a casserole with acorn squash, which turned out to be really, really good. The other thing I made was pizza dough. We each made a personal pizza with the toppings we each wanted. This is my pizza, fully cooked and ready for our Thanksgiving meal. Sausage, pepperoni, and anchovies isn’t everyone’s idea of a good pizza, but it works for me.