This has been a good month. It started out with a house full of kids and grandkids and although everyone has returned to their real lives, things are good.
The normal January thaw has lasted longer than it usually does. Temperatures have been fluctuating between high twenties and low forties for about two weeks. It’s not unusual for us to experience a few days of above freezing temps this time of year but they’re normally punctuated with at least as many days of bone cracking, subzero temps with howling winds as the cherry on top. We did have a few of those days a couple of weeks back. Now, I just watch the ice rink out my front window freeze and melt and freeze and melt. Last week, we had a whole string of perfect winter days; cold enough to keep the ice frozen but warm enough to skate for hours on end. For several evenings, the rink was covered with skaters including several organized hockey games inside the boards. On at least two nights there were dozens of spectators lining the boards watching the games.
Then the ice melted.
This morning the rink looks frozen and according to the trees, there’s a pretty steady breeze.
All in all, not bad for January. My brother got married 34 years ago this month and it was 56 or 58 degrees that day.
Snowmaggedon ’15 occurred last week on the east coast. It was less snow than the hysterical predictions, especially in NYC, where they apparently closed everything and told everyone to stay home for what turned out to be less than 6” of snow. Most of the snow fell on Boston.
Are school kids still taught about the Revolutionary war? I only ask because it’s hard to reconcile the stories we grew up on regarding the harsh winters, Valley Forge, etc. when every time it snows these days, our political leaders and news casters act like the entire eastern seaboard has never experienced winter before. I swear, these days it seems like the only quality we demand for our 'leaders' is a the ability to panic at the drop of a hat...no, make that at the prediction that a hat may be dropped.
Ignoring the hysteria of the deliberately ignorant masses, it’s been a fun month for us. Jay’s team won again last night, bringing their record to 16-1. Last night was payback for that one loss. I missed the first half of the game due to a birthday party. Punkin turned 5 and I was privileged to be invited to her exclusive party featuring pizza and cake.
A week or so ago, Punkin is the one who gave me the terrific news that she and her sister Bananas are going to be big sisters. Tater Tot is due next fall!
I think it’s a sign that your life is on the right track when you can enjoy little things. Yesterday, we had a handyman come in and fix the toilet and the sink faucet in our bathroom. The faucet had been leaking for months. Not much and not out the bottom; it just made for a wet sink top. It was never a big enough deal to worry about. Then the toilet started running. And howling. Every time you flushed, it howled like a banshee until the tank was refilled. Very annoying. Jay and I had done small jobs like these before. In fact, we had the exact same problem with the basement toilet back in December and we successfully switched out the valves ourselves. He got a new toilet valve system and I got a new faucet for the sink and Jay even spent some time under both fixtures…
And we decided to call the handyman.
We had a young man out last spring who installed out new garbage disposal. He was quick, charming and inexpensive. Jay called him and before I went to Punkin’s birthday dinner, had a perfectly functioning bathroom again.
That makes me so happy.
Happy enough to nearly forget the weird thing that happened two days ago. Well, the other weird thing after the burns on my fingers disappeared. It was afternoon and I was on my computer while Jay was in the kitchen cleaning up after lunch. He was at the sink and we both had our backs to the room.
I heard what sounded like a wine glass being knocked onto the granite counter or floor shatter. I say ‘wine glass’ because we usually have two or four of them soaking next to the sink. Yes, we like a little wine in the evening. So, they get knocked over fairly often. Often enough so that we only buy them at Value Village anymore. My point is; it’s a sound we’re very familiar with.
I immediately turned to see what Jay had knocked over. Simultaneously, he said “Watch your feet; where’s the cat?” He thought the cat had knocked something off the table or counter since he hadn’t touched anything.
The cat was in a different part of the house.
Not only had neither of us knocked anything over, there was nothing broken. No glass shards anywhere. We looked. We both heard it; it was in the kitchen. We also checked the small bedroom which has a hardwood floor and the back hall, which has vinyl. Nothing. No broken glass anywhere. Nothing broken that could account for the shattering sound we both heard.
Years ago, when my folks still lived in the big Victorian, a large framed drawing fell off the wall one evening, right behind a tall radiator. No one saw it but we all heard it; It caused quite an alarming racket but the radiator contained the glass so no one could figure out what had broken. A week or so later, my mom discovered the source of the noise when she swept the hall and ran her dust mop under the radiator and so found the broken glass.
My house has no radiators. And all the pictures are still on the walls.
We checked behind furniture and inside cupboards. Nothing.
So I figure it was one of two things; a sound from another dimension intruded on our afternoon or a wormhole to the future opened just long enough for us to hear the next glass that will break in our kitchen. That, kids, is called “Physics”.
Okay, it makes at least as much sense as MJ’s explanation. She thinks we brought a ghost into the house along with all of Uncle Bruce’s furniture.
Either way, I’m okay with it.
If I ever find the broken glass, I’ll let you know.