Holidays and back to daily life

Driving home for Christmas. We spent our holidays in my husband's hometown again. Temperatures were between -2 and -10° C/ 28 and 14° F. Jens had to scratch ice from the windscreen.

 About 5 or 6" snow. Unusual for our region, where we rather have warmer temps around Christmas, and people make bets whether it will be white or green.
We celebrate the evening of Dec 24th, so we arrived for coffee, then it was time to hand over the presents, we had a nice meal, and on Saturday morning we went to see J's old friends.
We went home to Hamburg on Saturday night after coffee.

 This evening, a garbage container started burning, it looked dramatic, but very soon was under control.

And I connected the latest strips to the quilt, you can see it at the foot of the quilt. And a ribbon with another magic spell is visible.

Let there be color

Bringing color into our lives is an urgent task. Now that Washington DC is flooded with loads of snow. I'm working on the issue of the radiant pyramid. This is not a finished picture; I mirrored the finished half in order to give you an impression of the plan.
I used a triangle grid which I created on my computer and printed out on watercolor paper.

Oh, forget the boring things I wrote on our winter! I just heard that the East of the USA is being afflicted by a blizzard. Hope you are all unter cozy roofs with well-filled fridges, and remain online.

Due to our climate, temperatures move around the freezing point all the time, up at days, down at night. The roads get sanded, that's a matter of safety, and so should the ways for pedestrians. House owners are under strict obligation to sand their paths in front of their houses.
On public walks, the situation is different.
I have to cross spaces of blank ice. 4 years ago, I fell on the ice and had a ligament rupture which meant I had to wear a support for 6 weeks. As I don't drive, I walk vast spaces -- if possible. Now, I'm under arrest.
I guess I'll have all food from the supermarket sent home to me until the ice melts.

Today, we booked our holidays

Winter is getting on our nerves. Today it started snowing again. I took this picture at night which explains the weird colors. Aperture: 8 sec.
So we went to the travel agency today and booked. We have been reading hotel descriptions and travellers' ratings on the internet for a week and looking up places and pictures.
First we were interested in Malta and the stone age temples. But what we read about the hotels was less attractive. So we shifted our aim, and I recommended Turkey which my husband had not been too interested in.
I was there twice in 1992, and I was enchanted by the Turkish lifestyle.

Sometimes I think I did not fall in love with my first husband but with his lifestyle.
This fancy remained after divorce.

The offers convinced J.
Hope the holidays will convince him even more. Two weeks, all inclusive, 1940,-- $ for the two of us.
Something to be anticipating.

I started quilting again. The hand bandage prevents wrong twists of my wrist. I keep working on the quilt for my husband.

Winter in the city

A radiant blue sky, 25 °F. The ice on our town lake Alster is almost strong enough to allow skating and other pleasures. Although our administration haven't opened the ice yet, many people are seeking their pleasure on their own risk. With extreme zoom, I was able to take this photo. A full turn shows this lovely scene, a row of mid-19th century buildings close to the townhall.

Caught in act:

... the teeth of the biting cold on our balcony rail this morning. Around the middle of December, temperatures were even lower, going down to 5° F. Last night, we had about 22°.
J hates the cold, I cannot inspire him to take a walk with me, although the sun comes out for short moments.
Art is reduced to water color doodlings of this kind:
WIP, stolen from Klee, started as a steal from Kandinsky. Something naive, a childrens book illustration without purpose.
Size: about 4x4"
I miss quilting! But my hand still hurts after almost 4 weeks. Getting better slowly. If not, I have to see the doc after all.

Just learnt what "blue moon" means. I was lucky this time! The moon was mild on me. Very often, full moon causes health problems, mostly when the weather is dry. This time, it was on my poor husband...
(I don't like full moon)
P.S. His stomach is better now after mint tea and good meals.

Weird light, cold nights

All the weekend thru, we had temperatures of about 3° F/-16° C at night. During the day, they did not rise much, so we had about 19° F. This is unusual. I remember warm Xmas eves in the seventies, 63° F on Dec 24th, 1978.
Last night, it wasn't quite so cold, just 28, but the sky was so bright. Looks weird, doesn't it? This picture was taken at 4:38 in the morning, long before dawn. We don't have more than 3" snow, but a Siberian feeling.
J hates it, I can cope with it. Baltic blood? In my parents' old home, most of the winter temps stayed on the above level, and schools stayed closed when it was below -- 22° F/--30° C.
I'm convinced that a warm cap is the clue. In Germany, most people take pride in going out without a cap. I don't know the offspring of this peculiar custom. I brainwashed my husband into wearing a cap. His rate of sinusitis has decreased from 3 times a year on less than once since then.
Solstice! From tomorrow, the light is coming back and days start getting longer!

Short days, bright sun

It is cold. A frosty night is followed by a sunny day, but before the sun can melt the frozen path, it is on the way down again. We took a walk, eager to see the sun as long as it was there, and starting out after lunch meant we saw it touch the horizon just 2 hours later. There was this house near the lake, empty and with smashed window panes on the back side. Such a beautiful house. What a shame. People walking by stopped to debate ways to save it.

Going up the country

Went to my parents-in-law over the weekend (prostrating before the ancestors, as we call it). We went by train, because snow was forecast. It is a real journey. We had to change to the bus, because the train ended 10 km outside the town.
Then we were at the station, freezing. No bus. Father picked us up. Thank God.

The fish in the pond were standing still like frozen, too. During the night, the pond was covered by a thin ice layer. Last roses before the snow seemed even more beautiful, almost transparent.