Catch up February

If you read the previous blog you know about the problem I had "with my gadgets" (well, actually with a google software change). 

February started with a bang. This was one very shiny thick layer of ice.

It actually was quite beautiful. Well, and scary at the same time because we knew we could not set a foot outside the house.

The sun was very strong though.

On 3. February we were brave enough to venture out. The Monks were coming through our area. 

Buddhist monks from the Huong Dao Vipassana Bhavana Center in Fort Worth, Texas, undertook a 2300-mile "Walk for Peace USA" to Washington DC. About 20-24 monks and a dog named Aloka started in October and the walk lasted over 100 days. They walked to promote peace, compassion, national unity, often in silence and sometimes in freezing weather. They got a lot of attention and admiration.

So we had to see/great them too. Martha and Jerry joined us.

James, Jerry and Martha were recipients of some of the flowers the monks had received just a few moments before from some bystanders.

We had waited very long and they had gone past in a quick moment. We were cold and hungry and left quickly.

A nice hot bowl of Pho was just the right thing - and close by.

February 14 - still ice on our walkway to the front door.

One day later - gone!

So nice to go for a walk again.

Ugh, and 4 days later: it started raining half way.

February 19: Sarah and I had been invited to a ladies' night out. Flower arranging. It was a lot of fun, especially since Wade's aunt Carolyn also was there.

One thing we had been on and off quite busy with ... James thought I/we should have a new car. I admit that I love new cars and new gadgets but I was reluctant. Strangely enough it wasn't that easy to not only decide which car company/model we wanted but none were available. I was sure that it had to be a hybrid. Toyota Grand Highlander, Kia Telluride, Hyundai Palisade all had promised a new hybrid any day with lots of advertisement, but advertisement was all there was. And strangery enough, all companies offered only dreary colors. We were on the list to call of several dealers.

On a Thursday I got a call from Wyatt, a young man at a Hyundai dealer close to Sarah and family. He wanted to tell me that a car had just arrived and he thought that we would like it. Somehow I thought he was not the typical car salesperson but genuine friendly and funny. We could not go that day but Friday Februarey 20 we went, liked it and bought it. We had done our "homework" so negotiation were quick. But it still needed some readying and we didn't want to wait. We picked it up on Saturday!

All the paperwork had taken a little time and when we left, we were hungry. Family tradition is to immidiate celebrate with a Chinese meal. We decided that a close Korean Restaurant would be just right because Hyundai is a Korean company.

Helen declared that it had been risky since it had always been a Chinese place. So we didn't loose any time to celebrate with Chinese take-out after the boys' baseball game. 

And then just one day later ... more of that!

The last day of the month was a Saturday. In the afternoon Caleb had a soccer game in Stafford which is about an hour north. The weather was lovely and we were happy to make a little trip out of it.

First we went to Fredericksburg to a German Restaurant "The Alpine Chef".  We had been there before and it is quite authentic. The only disappointment: no potato dumplings this time. Oh well....

The soccer game was quite exciting and nice too. WE won. Needless to say that driving there and back in the new car was very fun.

And that concludes this month!

Here we go again... (catch up January)

Not sure how to discribe the times right now. Busy? Busy doesn't cut it. Weird? Special? Interesting? Cold? Icy cold!!! Oh yes. Well, we really are having winter this season and I am always saying that I am allowed to complain because I am not complaining about our Virginia Summer. Most are complaining about that and I really don't. I say you can only complain once. 

We have some snow almost every year but just for a day or two and the sun shines on it, looks beautiful and it is lovely to even go for a walk. And it is usually just thawing soon.

But first things first. 

So, the above I wrote in January. But when I wanted to add photos to it, blogging came to a screeching hold. Google decided that I could not do it. I got all sorts of information what I should do but nothing worked. And the same happend with my iphone and I even tried my ipad. A few days ago we went to the apple store. A nice young man tried his best but without luck.

Today I took my gadgets to church. Dan, one of our members/friends, is an IT person and it didn't take him long to find and fix it. Thank you, thank you, Dan!

Now just a little bit of catch-up. What is there to report? James was making progress and we love it when we can take walks in the neighborhood. On this one my gadget said that we had done 1.75 miles / 4464 steps. Yeah!

And of course I have to take photos. When I snow these snowdrops on January 17 it made me happy.

Helen's birthday was coming up and I found these photos to make her birthday card. Yes, we had a snowstorm in St. Louis when she was born. They wouldn't want to let me leave the hospital with the baby because temperatures where -5F or so. We didn't have a connected garage where we could walk from the car in the garage into the house. We were questioned.

After her birthday I found this posted on Facebook: 

Sarah had other worries. Her oldest Caleb was due to leave with his soccer team for a championship in Florida on January 22 (without parents). The team made it out just before we had a severe ice storm. Coming back after the weekend was a bit more of a problem. But all ended up ok.

Yes, the weather forecast had been right.

Helen in Nashville got it too. She sent this picture.

And they had it worse. They lost their power which not only makes the home very cold very quickly, but she also can't work since she is teaching from home. 

She made the good decision to move with her son into a hotel for 2 days until the power was back. 

She posted this too. 

Her friend Kim was not so lucky and had to wait for her power much longer. The electric company had adviced everybody to let their faucets drip to avoid that they brake. She did that but staid with Helen and William for the time. When she went back to her house, she found an ice stalagmite in her kitchen sink.

James and I felt a little shut in. Of course we don't have to shuffle snow (or in this case: ice). The HOA takes car of it. But you have to watch and manage your appointments. It was so bitterly cold that walking was out of the question. The snow had been so hard that I also could not make any snow cream. Bummer!

And that is all there is to say that late about January.

All good intentions...

New Year's resolutions? One was: yes, I had good intentions not to wait too long between blogs. Amazing how fast time runs away from you. Most things are just regular day to day things. But some are in our memories.

January 1 = New Year. Helen is very organized. The alarm clock rings. At 5:41 am she and William are pulling out of our driveway. It was a very short time this time but James and I are very grateful for the effort. We know it is quite a drive. But so much fun to spend time together.

Grateful also to get travel reports. Love that smile.

While they were driving, we tried walking. It is 11 am and his procedure was only 2 days ago.

He is managing very well to walk around one of our blocks. "Strava" says 0.41 miles / 1,108 steps / 12 minutes. The weather is so nice that we go again at 2 pm.

A bunch of cut flowers from a friend in the neighborhood. If that is not a cheer-me-up. Thank you.

And our new birdfeeder is being visited too. Every day I have lots of 10 second video clips arriving on my phone. This is a screenshot I took. It is fun but quite time consuming. I will need to take time out to do a blog just about that. 

With all the things going on we forgot last November the first of the "Richmond Forum" series. You know we are members ever since moving to Virginia. This year we changed our subscription though. After asking Sarah and Wade we gave our seats up and now have a "streaming membership" only. When we remembered we had a nice dinner evening on a Thursday with Martha and Jerry watching Ted Koppel and Amna Nawaz. Those two were incredible and we were spellbound listening. 

Sunday January 11: Sometimes we have lunch after service with friends from church. This time we went to Chuy's which serves Tex-Mex Cuisine. We never lived in Texas like Martha and Jerry so don't really know the difference. It's a nice place though. The silverware came in this paper.

On the backside were three table prayers: Protestant, Catholic and Jewish. I liked that.

Next day James had his first appointment with the surgeon after his procedure. It went very well and hopefully. And he got his 13 staples taken out. Needless to say that James is happy and so am I.

January 14 - another milestone!

We looked at our situation and decided that we didn't need 2 cars any longer. We love doing things together and just always have to decide which car to take. For quite a while we were leaving one car in the driveway to have more space in the garage. We want to re-organize the garage but unfortunately with the weather being so cold have not been able to do so. And why paying insurance and tax twice?

We got advise previously from Sarah and Wade to sell with Carvana or CarMax. They looked up what the value of the CR-V was. This day we finally did it. 

We were amazed with this place. Very professional, organized and friendly. After a lot of signatures they gave as a check and asked if we wanted the lisence plates. Oh yes, please.

Just hope we get a bit warmer weather soon to re-arrange the garage. We are very eager to do that. Some things are already easier to do. And it has all to do with my effort to sort and get rid of things. Please keep your fingers crossed for me.

This is it for now. 

But I really need to thank all those who leave comments. Needless to say that I love reading those. I know my sister Ute, Kim, Julia, Susan, Jill, Linda, Maren, are frequent readers. Perfectly good to comment as "Unknown" (anonymously) but please don't forgot to end with your name. Love you ALL.