monday, new year's eve

woke at 8am, just as our breakfast was delivered. two loaves of hot bread, fresh jam, farm eggs, milk, juice...

not sure exactly how the day was spent - there was sledding, there were hikes into the back 40, there was cooking, reading, sitting by the fire. john and i bashed ourselves up pretty well on the steep-back-road-come-sledding-hill, using kids' binding-less snowboards. eventually, after dozens of attempts, we both made our way from the top to the bottom without falling.

lunch was a mushroom soup made by christie, awesome, with heavy home made wheat bread.

one of the most remarkable aspects of the weekend was the avian attendance at the sunflower feeder just outside the living room window. di counted eight species at the feeder, including a handful of blue jays, several male and female cardinals, juncos, some red-breasted woodpeckers, tufted titmice (titmouses?), and others. we all spent hours watching the birds take turns at the feeder. the jays, surprisingly, seemed the most timid and easily frightened off by the smaller birds.

on walks, di also saw a pileated woodpecker, white breasted nuthatches and northern flickers.

sudyka:


john and christie made dinner tonight - broiled romaine salad, and a great entree of winter squash with mustad seed and coconut milk over rice. dessert was walnuts baked in ground coffee beans, served in locally-made vanilla ice cream.

di got something in her eye, which was strenuous for a while, and she turned in before midnight. christie stayed up with john and i, and they took off soon after the new year was rung in. i stayed up to work on the puzzle i had been assembling all day. by 1am, i couldn't see straight.