While Drea's away

Apologies that I haven't written in the blog for a while. I was a long way behind until this week and I've been playing catchup. For those who weren't aware, we recently made a quick trip back to the states to visit with family. Hopefully I'll be able to put together a post of our trip as soon as Drea returns with the camera.

Drea seems to have the uncanny ability to magically extend vacations beyond all normal expectations. Last year she managed to get a weeklong visit in boston on only 2 vacation days. This year she's worked an even more impressive deal. It just so happened that the end of our trip coincided with a physics conference in Denver a couple weeks later. Which also just so happened to coincide with her best friend Merritt's road trip from Connecticutt to SF to start residency at UCSF. So instead of coming back to sunny Dunedin with me (Sunrise 8:20 ...sunset 4:59, ugh) she got to stay on in the states for nearly an extra month on a road trip through the Southeastern US and is currently at a physics conference in Colorado Springs.

Meanwhile, It has been fuh-reezing here. My first morning back at the house I was greeted with this...

That's not snow... It's hail!
Lot's of hail!

The next week we got a somewhat rare snowstorm down at sea level. It doesn't look like much but it was enough to stop the busses from running, cause a mess of accidents in town and pretty much shut the whole town down. But I have to say that despite the cold it was really pretty out. Here's a pic of the chicken coop the morning after..

I've also been eating well since Drea left me to fend for myself. Here's one of my less than inspired dinners. Mom, you must be so proud. All those lessons on presentation. In my defense it was a long day and I didn't feel like cooking. ;-)

mmmm, can!

But one of the cool things that goes on in Dunedin over the winter is the midwinter carnival. To celebrate the longest night of the year there's a lantern festival and fireworks show in the center of town. This year's theme was flowers and there were some very creative floral lanterns in the procession along with dancers, drummers, bands and stiltwalkers...

One of our favorite local bands was playing (but they looked cold!)

A very cool little event. And it's nice to think that every day gets a little bit brighter from here on out.

But most of all these last couple weeks, I am missing Andrea very much. I'm looking forward to having her come home.

Dave