the weekend

A storm!
A storm paralyzed Tuvalu and closed the schools early! Unheard of.
Not snow - make no mistake.
Ice.
Hard, driving, face pelting ice closed roads and halted progress on our bathroom and held my brother several provinces away, while we planned for a party for my mother.

Ice, so poetic here -



such a pain in the ass here -





Not an inch of snow I TELL YOU - IT'S ALL ICE.

With the yard frozen solid, and my brother finally arriving via Pakistan, inside we bustled along to prepare a feast.



(I made two loaves! A coup!)



That's homework on the big board, but I tailored it all to be a birthday greeting.






Spring hopes eternal.




One crowd telling jokes in the kitchen (there ARE NO good Hitler jokes) (one bawdy nun joke, told by me, after which I blushed hard)...



Mr. Daniels and, uh, Mr. Cola.

Another crowd in the living room laughing and wii-ing.
At one point we were in tears as my Aunt attempted to explain the time my grandmother mistook my father (who was wearing a wig) for a woman...

It was one of those great days full of good food (beef filet sandwiches, frites, pickles, orange ginger salad) and little cousins sliding around on the ice and a constant line outside the bathroom door.
The prep was mighty and so was the eating and drinking and laughing, which is just as it should be.