filling a hole

Since our sweet, beautiful greyhound Joey passed away last year, certain places in our home have been very loud reminders that he is gone. The place in the kitchen where his food & water dishes stood, the places upstairs & down where his beds lay. It took rearranging the furniture to make these areas less glaring, less talkative to me. I am certainly not trying to remove his memory from this home, and cannot from our hearts.

Sometimes a void needs new life, that's all. The small wall area by the back door and kitchen windows was such a place. Walking by the empty space where his leash & collar hung always left me sad. I stared at it on a Saturday morning and decided to change the conversation. Vintage acorn hooks from a can in the basement (years ago found at a flea market) were perfect. One for each boy. Just right with the bead-board. And they're learning to hang their own coats.

Now this space is happier, livelier. It's a place where we mark how much our babies are growing up. It still reminds me of our sweet boy Joey, but now it makes me happy - not sad.

fun in the (mostly cloudy, chilly) sun

It's the coldest weather the gulf coast of Florida has had in 20 years. Couldn't very well miss that, could we? For two weeks. It was still fun, and the upside is that when we piled in the car (yes, we drove) it was 18 degrees at home. The drive went really well, about 90% of it. The boys did great, they are such good travelers - it wasn't them. We happened to leave the day after the epic snow storm that walloped the mid-Atlantic coast, delayed because we would have driven through the thick of it, in areas ill-equipped to process said snow. Thinking the next day would be fine, they'd surely be all plowed by then, we set off. Yeah.

Lucky I was behind the wheel (I am the more patient one). Understanding that this was alot of snow for an area that doesn't see much, still, it was unbelievable how utterly awful it was in DC. I would not have believed how bad it was if I didn't experience it myself. The 4 lane roads were unplowed in the center 2 lanes. ????!! The 'cleared' lanes were inches deep of slosh & ice ruts that constantly changed your tire path. And the locals - by their license plates - who aren't accustomed to these conditions, drove like it was bare pavement. The most interesting part was a dead standstill on 95 because 4 plows ahead were stopped blocking all lanes, drivers walking around outside apparently on a break or something. I just bailed then & had Garmin find me a new way. So, what should have been 30 minutes on the beltway around the DC area became 3 hours of stress. 

We still arrived in one piece, none the worse. The weather was less than sparkly, but it was no frozen north. We were outside a large chunk of each day, visiting various parks, taking lots of long walks, and even a couple beach days, although a bit bundled up. Nothing beats the powdered sugar of Siesta Key Beach. Spending time with lots of family members we hardly get to see, a birthday party, visiting beach towns, art fairs, a farmer's market, a flea market, lunches & dinners out along with great dinners cooked in; those things were more memorable than the weather. The boys loved it all, as did we. It tides us over until we reach spring.

Thank you Auntie Lisa & Cousin Jordan for putting us up (and up with us, too), and to Grandma Audrey & Joe for your hospitality, as well. Looking forward to next year!