Rugged

I'm beginning to feel that that the stereotype is true. New Englanders are a rugged sort.

And one would have to be, wouldn't one? In my very short tenure here, I've already raked more leaves and shoveled more snow than I ever did during my nineteen years in Austin.

At least there's a certain romance to the leaf raking and snow shoveling. A sense of living in rhythm with the seasons. Plus there is the added benefit of a decent (and inexpensive) cardio workout. A rake and shovel are relatively cheap. The leaves and snow are free. After a few minutes of shoveling, I had shed my Nanook puffy coat in favor of just a sweatshirt layer. Afterwards, the effects could be felt everywhere from biceps to hamstrings.

Living with true seasons demands rigor and discipline. If you're not physically handling the tree detritus, you're scheduling their removal. You're taking out lawn furniture and bringing it in. Likewise with sporting equipment. You deal with gutters (or if you don't deal with gutters, then you deal with ice dams). You ready yourself with salt and scrapers and sand and blankets while your southern counterparts blithely stroll about in shorts.

Perhaps this is why I've seen more LLBean-clad septuagenarians hiking trails and walking to their daily errands here than I'd ever seen in Austin. Granted, Austin is a very youthful city. However, I was much more likely to see the 70+ set enjoying their early bird dining at Luby's than striding along Town Lake or SoCo.

So this is my new goal. I don't want to age into a scheduled regimen of Botox and discreet lifts. I aspire to be that lululemon-clad septuagenarian. Kidding! That LLBean-clad septuagenarian striding through a keen, frosty winter day, rugged and vital and vigorous, honed by years of living through seasons.

Usage #2 for Starbursts

The candy, that is. Not the shapes.

Excellent for dislodging a stubbornly loose tooth.

What do you expect from someone who has duct tape patches on her floor?

Forecast: snow

I should have seen it coming after those barrels of sand started appearing around my neighborhood. Of course I knew it all along. But now it's imminent and very real. It's December, and snow is coming. Three to five inches of snow. That sounds like a lot!

Yes, I know. What did I expect? But expectations differ from cold, hard reality (or cold, fluffy reality as the case may be). My children thought that the light dusting we received in October was awesome. My son carefully scraped up enough snow from all over the backyard to make two very lumpy and pine-needle-encrusted snowmen. And of course, I went crazy taking photos and posting them on Facebook to show my Texas friends the very odd sight of snow dusted pumpkins.

And now. Three to five inches. Wow.

We have salt. And a snowblower. And a snow shovel. (And two pink little kid snow shovels thanks to a kind neighbor, but I'm not seeing the two little girls making much of a dent on any sort of accumulation.) I'm having visions of being stranded in our house, unable to back our car up the driveway (which is a bit steep). Actually, my husband grew up in St. Louis so he should be fine. It's just me who has never driven in ice in her life. Except for that one time in Austin when I ventured out on iced roads in a Miata. I was young and very stupid.

We shall see...

Brookline's 1st Light

Among my many worries about our move were holiday traditions. More specifically, losing our holiday traditions. In Austin, our family's holiday traditions included a walk through the Trail of Lights, a mile of 40+ lit scenes winding through Zilker Park. We'd come a bit early and wait by the Zilker Tree, an 155-foot-tall "tree" strung from the Moonlight Tower. We'd munch freshly popped kettle corn. When the Trail opened, we'd merge into the crowds. And every year at just about that time, I felt a surge of ridiculously sappy, sentimental, misty-eyed emotion.



This year, I was sad to see that the Trail of Lights barely survived the city's budget cutting to emerge as a shortened, half-mile trail re-christened "The Zilker Tree Holiday Festival." And maybe, secretly, I was a little bit relieved. Selfishly to be sure. But relieved to see that things don't stay the same even if one stays in the same place.

But what would we do in Boston? In my most anxious moments, I pictured a dreary month void of all holiday cheer and festivity.

Well, tonight, we went to 1st Light at Coolidge Corner in Brookline. The Coolidge Corner merchants and Brookline entities welcomed the holiday season in style, offering crafts, musical acts, fun freebies of every description, and food. Due to the big guy's guitar lesson, we arrived late and found ourselves tangled in a snarl of traffic. Lesson learned. 1st Light is apparently quite popular. We managed to find a parking spot a bit removed from the main action. The children were worried that all of the good stuff would be gone. They needn't have worried.

They dipped candles in wax, decorated photo frames with paint and glitter, made "gilt" walnut ornaments, and wrote with turkey feather quill pens. They received balloon animals and amazing flashlight/pens and cotton candy and snacks. We watched Indian dancers and listened to a few bands and chorale performances. The streets were full of families with beaming, bouncing, overexcited children and gaggles of exuberant teens. A fun, fun holiday street festival.

Thanks to Tanya for suggesting this outing. I feel a new holiday tradition taking shape.

Topsy-turvy

Austin's forecast for Thursday, December 3, 2009:
High: 49
Low: 32

Boston's forecast for Thursday, December 3, 2009:
High: 68
Low: 40


Austin's forecast for Friday, December 4, 2009:
High: 38
Low: 26
Snow forecast

Boston's forecast for Friday, December 4, 2009:
High: 52
Low: 37