About two feet of snow fell since last night. We never quite got the blizzardy white-out conditions that were forecast, but we got the right amount of snow, and more was falling as I took this picture.
We’re going to have some trouble getting out of our house!
Wilmington sits in region of Massachusetts that is sadly bereft of protrusive terrain. Coming from hilly Connecticut, I quickly noticed the lack of sledding opportunities.
It’s not all sad flatness, however. We have a great prominence left by the glaciers at the south end of town, by a local ball field. I’m not sure if the hill or the field have a name – Google Maps is currently mum. It appears to be about 100′ high.
From the road, you would never know a sledding track is there, except for the number of cars in the parking lot that appear immediately after a snowfall.
There are two sledding tracks, one steeper than the other. The flatter one is a favorite of the little kids, but the “ruts” tend to be better defined on the steeper track (ironically, making that one the safer track as you’re less likely to drift off-course).
For a couple of years now, I’ve been pushing all the snow in the driveway into a single pile at the end.
As few as six inches of snow makes a pile three feet high, with a run of eight feet.
The kids have dubbed it “Mt. Sled Helens.”
Sledding down Mt. Sled Helens
We don’t have many hills of any decent size in this corner of Massachusetts, so this fills the gap when I can’t drive the girls to the good sledding hills.
We took all of the joneslings to see the Mummenschanz at the VETS Theater in Providence tonight. They come through every few decades – the last time I saw them was 25 years ago.
But first: dinner at the Cheesecake Factory (right around the corner from the theater). We relegated the cousins to their own end of the table.
Joneslings around the kids’ end of the table
I think it’s safe to say we were all in good spirits.
M., being especially beautiful tonight
Finally – the show.
Happy joneslings
Breakfast Casserole
Makes 5-6 servings. Serve with a dollop of sour cream on top!
“No! I work on a cash-only basis.”
“But it’s a perfectly good check!”
“No! I’ll make it very clear. You slip me the cash, and I’ll slip you the wiener.”
“But I don’t have any cash.”
“Then I don’t have a wiener!”
— Adventures in Babysitting
I was reminded over the weekend about The Last Ringbearer while talking with my buddy Sam, who likes The Lord Of the Rings but had never heard of TLR.
The tl;dr version is it’s LOTR as told by the losing side. I enjoyed LTR more than LOTR because it provides more context to the events – the political manoeuvring and intrigue, about-faces, and a far more rational explanation for why the battles portrayed in LOTR are so important.
The original is in Russian, but the English translation is “non-commerical” (the translator’s words) and is free. It can be found at http://ymarkov.livejournal.com/270570.html where the translator provides backstory for why TLR exists and why the translation is free.
Tortillas are surprisingly easy to make, but it does go a lot faster with two: one to flatten dough while the other cooks the previously-flattened dough. Each tortilla takes about as long to cook as to roll.
These tortillas are good enough to eat plain. They store well in a ziploc baggie.
Ingredients:
Steps:
I love black bean burgers, which means in my house I’m the odd man out. That used to be ok because I didn’t make them – I would only buy them when we went out so no one else had to put up with them (I happen to love the ones from Blimpies but Subway has a good one too). That is, until now.
Extra patties can be frozen for later.
[The kids are watching “How To Train Your Dragon 2”]
“Hiccup looks like Uncle Sam.”
“… Oh, yeah. A very young looking Uncle Sam.”
“Yeah, when he shaves.”