A Snow Day

I woke up this morning to find an inch and a half of snow on the ground. What was cool was that the snow was sticking to the tops of everything. When we returned from California, with 14 inches of snow on the ground, it wasn't very picturesque because all the branches and flowers were bare. This was not the case today, so I went out looking for pictures. I took a bunch, and am picking this one because as a close-up it is something different from the larger scale images I have been posting lately. I think this image has a nice feel to it - kind of blue and cold, like the day.

Venice Beach School Bus

The sunday before leaving California, we all went to Venice Beach to walk up and down the boardwalk and enjoy all the sights. That means people watching, the most fun thing to do on the boardwalk. There is Muscle Beach, and now there is a brand new skateboard park, which is astounding to watch in operation. But then I saw this school bus. I thought this was just a brilliant work of art. Who would have thought to do this? Just brilliant! A guy in a battered motor home a couple of parking spots away said the bus was for sale. $200. I immediately reached for my wallet, thinking that if I bought this, I could save the airfare home. Alas, not enough money in my wallet. Oh well...

Fifth Day of Christmas

These are the Christmas decorations at "Vernon Villa" in Venice, where Amy and Gus live. I love how cute the decorations are, and since it is tropical there, there will be no snow, and yet it feels so much like Christmas. I particularly love the beach umbrella in the photo, on the porch!

Mom's Gingerbread Recipe!

Here it is, the recipe you have all been waiting for. It has a storied history. I believe it came from Mertie Loomis, in Guilford, Connecticut, and was passed on to my Grandmother, Florence Jillson Spencer, and then passed on to my mom, Ruth Clarke Spencer, and 40 years ago she passed it along to me. I have been making Gingerbread Women for all these years. I made the metal cookie cutter myself a long time ago, and still use it, strange as it is. Yum!

"Mom's Gingerbread Recipe"
3 cups sifted flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp ginger
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp powdered cloves
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup butter
1 cup molasses

Sift dry ingredients together, including spices. Cut in butter, add molasses & chill one hour. Roll out dough about 3/16" thick, and cut with cookie cutter. Bake on lightly greased sheet for 9 to 10 minutes at 375 degrees.

Please let me know how you like them after you make some.

Third Day of Christmas

So the real Christmas season lasts for 12 days. That's good because I have some other Christmas photos that I didn't use the days I shot them. I always shoot any possibilities that I see. Sometimes I find a better photograph later on, which happened this past week. So I will take advantage of the 12 days and show you some other photos I took but haven't posted yet. I saw this tree near a bank before going to California. It was at night, and wasn't very interesting, because it was surrounded by black. I made a note to come back at dusk. Imagine my good luck when I returned from the west coast, and there was snow all over the ground! I realized I had a much nicer shot, so went back at dusk. The blue is pretty, isn't it?

Jen & My Mom

This is my niece Jen, and my Mom on Christmas day. Jen was using her MacBook computer to show my mom photographs that Jen had taken recently, and my mom was really enjoying them. She is 93 and still doing pretty well, all things considered. It was great to have a lot of our family together on Christmas. We missed Liz and Amy in California, and Kelsey, who is in Maine. But all in all, it was a really nice day.

Midnight Mass

Went to midnight mass last night, Christmas eve - it actually begins at Midnight, so it is really Christmas day. You pick up a candle when you enter the church, and after most of the service is over, altar boys come down the aisle and light the candles of people sitting on the aisle, and they they light the candles of people in their rows, until all the church is illuminated by the small candles everyone is holding. It is an impressive thing to see, and a beautiful experience to be part of.