Lee-Brown Holiday Celebration

My sister also married a Brown.  She had 5 daughters.  All are married with families spread far and wide: Kuwait, Los Vegas, Seattle, Portland, Salem and Eugene making a holiday celebration complex to coordinate. January 21st was the chosen date. Later the Women's March on Washington was scheduled the same day. We have never discussed politics and I was pleasantly surprised when everyone, including husbands, was enthusiastically "in" on exchanging the traditional family gift giving with participating in the WMW and giving voice to human rights and environmental concerns.  We agreed to meet in Portland and join the rally there. I have experienced protest rallies from Save French Pete, to anti-Nam, to ERA, to the first and many Earth Day's. No one else in the family had ever been to a rally.
Before I left for Portland, Vineman displayed my not-quite-finished protest sign. My sister wondered if all the holes in his head were also part of the statement.

The WMW-Portland march started with a morning Mother's March.  My niece took her daughter and posted about the experience: "I will no longer accept the things I cannot change. I will change the things I cannot accept. Proud to be raising the next generation of activits, and show my daughter that she has a voice".

The official WMW route. What was expect to be 20,000 to 30,000 attendees turned out to be over 100,000 participants in a peaceful, affirming march. I noted that at least 1/3rd were male.

Soaking wet from by the time we got from the MAX stop to joining the crowd at the official start time.

Almost to the "official start" about 2 blocks and an hour later.

The noise from bands, drums and cheering under the bridge was incredible.

We made it to the "official start".

 The crowds behind us.

Family group picture at the "official starting place"

 The crowds in front of us.

By the time we got to the Hawthorn bridge the rally was to end in one hour.  We turned the first corner and soaking wet to the skin, we back-tracked to hike over the bridge to catch transit home.  At least three of Portland's Willamette River bridges were closed to foot traffic only. I don't know if that has ever happened before.

Thank heavens for smart phones and a generation that knows how to use them. Roads with transit stops were closed to crowds. Buses and MAX cars were packed to the gills with faces pinned to the windows. Using transit and map apps, we were able to locate and utilize three different modes of public transport to finally get home for our family holiday celebration.
After coffee and pizza, while the girls took turns with the baby, the guys and I were busy creating our holiday toast.

I am now a believer in not believing everything you see on FB.  I had found a video of making S'mores Shooters. They were simple and beautiful in the video. Shooter glasses rimmed with chocolate syrup coated crushed graham crackers; filled with kuala and vodka over a choc syrup bottom and; finished with a flaming marshmallow on top. The recipe called for heavy cream with the liqueur but I didn't have cream and besides I like black Russians better than white Russians so we created them without the cream. All went well with only a few spills - shooter glasses are deceptive when pouring from a liqueur bottle - until it came time to flame the marshmallows. First we tried a hand torch like in the video. That resulted in a small, distasteful, blackened spot on the marshmallow without toasting. Then we decided to soak the marshmallows in vodka and try to light them. Same result though tastier. Then a tray of vodka soaked marshmallows was taken to the shop for a blow torch lighting. The ending result can easily be visualized. Next was a plate of marshmallows in the microwave. The sticky glob was useless to our project. (Honest we did not imbibe in anything but marshmallows during the production process.) Lastly was a tray of marshmallows under the over broiler. We had our toasted tops. The only problem at this stage was that the hot marshmallows continued to expand when they were put on top of the shooter glasses.  The over-spill from liqueur below was wiped off.  The glasses were placed on a clean tray and everyone was wisely brought from the living room with it's carpet to the kitchen to toast our unique and successful holiday celebration.

I do not have the video but needless to say it is hilarious. The drinks were sweet and strong. I had to rush to a glass of water to quell my throat of the first sip. By the time I got back, milk was procured and the remains of the drink was diluted. There was a reason the recipe called for cream. We'll see if S'More Shooters remain a part of the Lee-Brown Holiday celebration.
Vineman the next day sporting the other side of my WMW sign.

Birthday Weekend

My birthday weekend started with a Saturday trip to the ski area where I found 20 degree sunshine, uncrowded slopes and very sore thighs. Why does my mind/heart try to overwhelm my body? As much as my muscles were screaming at me, I kept skiing and not just the easy runs. It was so beautiful. This getting old thing sucks when you desire the adventure of a 20 year old.

My plan to stick to the easier runs flew out the window with my skis. The top of the mountain beckoned.

That night I paid for my enthusiasm. I ended up breaking a couple inches of ice off the hot tub lid and crawling in about 2330. As the clock struck midnight, Orion smiled down on me from the clear sky. The near-full moon lit the frosted trees.  It was so cold, the steam was condensing and snowing back down on me. Not a bad way to start my 67th year. 
The next morning I jumped up; grabbed a birthday banner and my camera and; headed outside to enjoy the splendor of the day.

The night's frozen fog left an icing on everything making the nature around me more beautiful than any festive frosted birthday cake.

It was so cold and the ground so crusty, only Trask joined me as I slid around in my slippers while taking pictures.

Trask tried his best play posture to entice me into a game of Chinook Tag in fallen branches. "Not gonna happen big boy".

"But mom, the others are still in bed".

After breakfast, I too joined the three dogs in bed. It was my birthday after all. When I awoke, the sun was cresting the top of the ridge.

Camera time again. The backyard scene will be quite different once the snow melts and all the branches brought down by the ice storm emerge. But, until then...

 a winter wonderland for my birthday.

Being born in the middle of January and living in Oregon, I have rarely seen sun on my birthday. Even rarer still snow.

 This year I had both.

 Vineman joined in my "Life if Good!" cheer.

First 2017 Sled Runs

January 5th we finally had enough snow (8") to completely cover the road through the trees. The temperature was in the teens. Thanks to Dave's truck, the road was hard-packed and fast.
My first attempt at taking a picture with mittens on.

Team Nookies flew non-stop the 1/2 mile to the tie-up, turn-around place. The dogs rested as I walked up to the mail box.

Day 4 of no mail or paper.  I turned the sled for another fast ride back home. What a way to start a mushing year!

A major storm of freezing rain was predicted for the night of January 6.  Dave and I went to town for supplies. By the time we got back, it was very cold and getting dusky. I hadn't run the dogs and they were raring to go.

We quickly made it up the hills and through the woods. There were a lot of frozen branches buried in the snow. At one point, I caught and broke my drag brake.

With no brake to slow them, the dogs really picked up speed on the last downhill corner until...

"SQUIRREL!".  Before I even know what was happening, they took a 90 degree turn down into and thru the roadside ditch. Fortunately before the sled followed, they became tangled in some branches I had thrown off the road after the ice storm.

Back sorted out, we headed the last stretch toward the house.

Dave was waiting with the camera to catch us fly by.

Koyuk and Trask had run a mile with only a brief squirrel detour and were still pulling at full speed.

It did pour freezing rain for about 30 hours and continues to rain. The snow is down to 3-4" and the road it too treacherous to walk on let alone drive the sled. The dogs don't even want to be outside. Mail finally came yesterday. I have yet to be able to clear the ice off the patios or path to the wood pile. Fortunately the trees are finally free of their load of snow and ice so they are no longer crashing down branches. Weather report for tonight is either a major storm of snow or freezing rain. Paws crossed for snow. Team Nookies is ready to run again.