water, water everywhere...

A few weeks ago, it start snowing, and the snow just kept on falling. Of course, it happened on a weekend, and I had to go to choir practice on Sunday morning. So I walked the approximately two miles to get to church. It was a real adventure in walking. I walked on the very snowing shoulder of the road because the town that I live in is not especially blessed with sidewalks. The few sidewalks that exist were pretty snow covered, anyway. I never go anywhere without a camera so I got some interesting (and not very colorful) views of my world, buried in snow.
Anyway, walking through the snow felt sort of like walking through sand (cold sand!) on a beach. It was an aerobic workout, to be sure. After church was over, my friend said that she and her husband were going to drive me home and not drop me off at the bike path, which is where I usually go. I said that the bike path was buried under snow.
A few days later, it started to rain... and on one wild and windy day, the temperature hit 60 degrees! That was rather bizarre after the deluge of snow.
The snow is gone and has been replaced by... water! Lots and lots of water! I've been walking outside every day (except on the wild and windy day, when I went to the gym and went on the treadmill) and, of course, I had to take pictures. I was interested in the new lakefront property.
It's gotten a lot colder today, so some of that water has turned to ice... and now it might be just about ice skating time...
Speaking about new lakes, I have a friend named Cassandra, whom I met when I was walking through Wisconsin last summer with the Witness Against War walk. She said that, when Wisconsin experienced its terrible flooding last June, new lakes formed where lakes had never existed. She said that they were beautiful. Some of them lasted through the summer.

Fun with felines

This morning, I was sitting on the couch, crocheting a lapghan (that's a lap-sized afghan). Big Smokey (the gray cat pictured here) was happily seated on my lap, making crocheting a big adventure. I had to crochet around the cat! Zoe sat near my head, on the upper part of the couch. Before long, Zoe decided that she wanted to get closer to me and my yarn (mostly the yarn... Zoe is a notorious thief!). She walked onto the arm of the couch, right next to me and Smokey. Smokey is a bit territorial, and I am his human property. He took one look at Zoe (normally his girlfriend). He grabbed hold her her leg and bit it!
Chomp!
She jumped off of the couch.
He jumped off of my lap.
The two cats went in separate directions.
I continued to crochet.

Everything about this tea house, called SereniTea, was very colorful, cheerful, and relaxing. Doesn't that food look very yummy?
It's just a memory now. I consumed all of it. The tea was great. I added honey and lemon, which brought out the flavor of the passion fruit tea.

tea and books

Earlier this month, I went to a tea house for a joint meeting of two book clubs. These two book clubs get together for a joint meeting once a year. As I had joined my book club in February, this was my first experience with the other book club.
To prepare for the meeting, I had to obtain and read Olive Kitteridge, by Elizabeth Strout, in thirteen days. Of course, one of those days was Thanksgiving! Fortunately, I was able to get a copy of the book at the library. The library lends out new books such as this one for just seven days so I had to return the book a few days before the book club meeting. Fortunately, the book was just 288 pages so it didn't take long to read.
The book is actually structured as a series of thirteen short stories that are tied together by the presence (either as a major character or in the background) of Olive Kitteridge, a retired math teacher, whose relationships with other people tended to be uncomfortable. Because Olive keeps her pain inside of her and because she is not exactly the warm and fuzzy type, people tend to view her in a negative light.
Olive's life comes across as incredibly painful. She endures one trauma after the next. The other characters don't fare much better. A girl suffers with anorexia, a man finds that his marriage has gone cold and his wife is no more than an acquaintance...
The book was well written and I liked the short story format. I found Olive's story to be difficult to read at time, however, because it was so unbelievably harsh. In fact, the mood is constantly dark. I see that as a weakness in the story. It's sort of like music. If there are no dynamics in the music... if, for example, the musical piece is played at the same volume all of the time... the music becomes less interesting. I wanted to experience the characters' joys, as well as their sorrows.
We discussed all of this at the book club meeting. Some liked the story, some did not.
It was a good conversation... and we had tea and scones and pastries in a charming tea house. We drank our tea out of bone china tea cups. We were presented with wooden boxes, in which there was a great selection of tea bags. I especially enjoyed the passion fruit tea. I also enjoyed the scone with whipped butter.
It was all great fun and the only thing that I didn't care for was that the fun had to end.
Alas.
I am always ready for a tea party!