As the title of this post suggests, we had a weird, weird weekend with the weather. On Friday night and into Saturday, there was another one of those events that we Mainers love so well—an ice storm. Fortunately, this one didn’t last very long, and it didn’t knock out the power. Nevertheless, when we got up on Saturday, there was a thin coat of ice outside on everything—the steps, the driveway, and our road.

To console ourselves, Clif and I scarfed down a few of Mrs. Dunster’s chocolate sugared donut holes as we debated the merits of staying home or going to Waterville for the first film in the Cinema Exploration film series at Railroad Square. (Waterville is about 25 miles away.) Now, anyone with a lick of common sense would have resigned herself to staying home for yet another weekend and working on one of the many projects that are pending. But Clif and I were just plain tired of having to cancel our plans because of bad weather. Thus the debate.

“Well,” Clif said. “It’s supposed to warm up by noon.”

“And the roads won’t be so slippery then,” I finished. When two people have lived together for nearly forty years, they tend to finish each other’s sentences.

“Let’s try it,” Clif said. And try it we did, skittering down the steps, slipping across the driveway, and skidding up the Narrows Pond Road, where a cop’s car was parked at the top, presumably to discourage anyone from sliding down the road right into the Narrows Pond.

“This is terrible,” Clif said.

“It is,” I replied. “But let’s see how the main roads are.”

The main roads were not great but passable, salted and sanded enough so that a trip to Waterville seemed possible and not suicidal. Therefore on we went, making it to Waterville in pretty good time. And here’s the amazing thing—we weren’t the only nutcases that had braved the slippery roads to come to the film series. There were 15 of us for the morning show and another 15 for the noon show. I expect a lot of people felt the way we did—they were tired of being cooped up inside because of bad weather.

After the film—What is Cinema?—we had lunch with our friends Alice and Joel at the Mexican Restaurant adjoining Railroad Square. We all agreed that What is Cinema? was a good movie and that the series was off to a great start. We had a long, leisurely lunch, and by gum, by the time we had finished, it had indeed warmed up. While it was raining rather hard, the roads were more than passable, free of ice and not particularly slippery.

We made it home without incident, where we were greeted by the dog and the cats. We turned up the heat, made tea, and settled on the couch with our respective books. The orange cat was on my lap, the dog beside me on the couch, and Little Miss, the black and white cat, was at the other end. (We have a long couch.) The rain beat on the roof, and we were glad to be home. But we were also glad that we had gone to the film series.

No matter how much you love home—and I love mine very much—it is good to go out now and then. Especially this winter, when we have had to stay inside so much because of bad weather.

Cold, cold, cold, and more bad weather predicted for the weekend. So what’s new? Our weekend is chock-full of plans—going to the movies, pizza with friends, a trip to Shannon’s in South Portland so that we can measure for shelves in her kitchen. What will have to be canceled? Only time will tell. In the meantime, we dream of spring…

From the Portland Press Herald: Another great piece by Gillian Graham about hunger in Maine and two volunteers, Dick and Carol Ogden, who volunteer at the food pantry in Alfred, Maine. They also organize the monthly Good Shepherd Food Bank Senior Food Mobile event, where 12,000 pounds of food are given in 90 minutes. “If more people could see something like this, maybe hearts would soften a bit,” he [Dick] says.

From the New York Times: Paul Krugman’s take on the war on poverty. Believe it or not, there is some good news.

From the World Resources Institute: The Global Food Challenge Explained in 18 Graphs. There is a lot of information in this piece, but it’s presented very clearly,  The global food challenge is a huge one, made worse by the pressures of climate change.

From Huffington Post: “With the money they made in 2013 alone, the world’s richest people could have paid to feed the world’s hungry school kids 163 times over.”  So why don’t they? A little greed problem? A little empathy problem?

And, on a lighter note…

From Yahoo Food: Soy-Maple Broiled Tofu. I’ll definitely be trying this one at home.

Sherlock’s response to this cold, blustery day.

On the other hand, Liam and I went out for a two-mile walk today. Sometimes, I think cats are smarter than dogs and people.

Because I’ve been on vacation for the past two weeks and haven’t posted much, I thought I would also post these pictures of our yard, our road, and the Narrows. In between storms and weather so frigid my nostrils stuck together when I took a deep breath, we did have a day or so of glorious, bright winter weather, when it wasn’t too cold to enjoy being outside. The dog and I went for a walk on one of those days, and here are some pictures I took.

My-oh-my, the weather has been frightful these past two weeks, which have encompassed Christmas, New Years, and vacation for Clif and me. There have been snow storms; an ice storm that knocked out our power for three days, including Christmas Day; and weather so cold that our dog, who loves snow, only stayed out in the backyard long enough to do his business. And now a driving rain, most unwelcome in January, with the threat of more frigid weather to follow. Something tells me that Clif and I will not be leaving home without our grippers on our shoes.

Despite the bad weather, our holidays were merry, even though there was a fair amount of improvising with food. Instead of our usual cheddar cheese soup on Christmas Eve, we had a soup I had frozen—ginger-carrot soup—along with chickpea patties—also frozen and thawed thanks to the power outtage. Scratch the stuffed shells for Christmas Day. Instead, it was appetizers—bread, crackers, veggies, various cheeses, spreads, and cold cuts. Not my idea of a great Christmas meal, but Shannon, who loves appetizer meals, was delighted.

Somehow, though, everything worked out. Because of the ice-storm brouhaha, my brother and his family couldn’t come over on Christmas Day. They could, however, come over on Friday, and since our power was back on, I could make stuffed shells for them along with a homemade chocolate ice-cream pie.

And the cheddar cheese soup? A New Year’s Eve meal with Shannon, Mike, Dee, and our friends Joel and Alice. So we had the holiday food we love, only pushed later during the week.

I must admit that by the time the holidays were over, I was just plain tuckered out. But Clif and I still had several more vacation days, and in between cleaning the roof and the driveway, we ate more than we should have, we read, we rested, and we watched movies, both at home and at the cinema. (There have been some very good movies this year.)

Now vacation is over, and it’s time to get back on track—with work, with exercise, with eating, and with the many projects that seem to fill our lives. Our current project involves making shelves for Shannon and Mike’s kitchen. Clif, handy guy that he is, will do most of the work. I’ll try not to get in the way too much. And there is also cleaning and decluttering, a never-ending task for me as I’m sure it is for most people.

Onward and upward into 2014. I’m hoping it is a year of family, friends, good food, biking, and creativity.

In Maine, 2013 certainly went out with a bang. We had an ice storm, and while it wasn’t as bad as the Great Ice Storm of ’98, it was bad enough. As it wove its icy path through central Maine and beyond, the storm knocked out power in many, many homes, just in time for Christmas, one of the busiest times of the year. We lost our power on Monday, December 23 and got it back Wednesday, December 25.

I’ll write more in a day or two, but I do want to assure readers that at the little house in the big woods, we are well prepared for ice storms and power outages. We were snug and warm and had plenty to eat, enough so that we were able to invite our friend Diane to join us on Christmas Eve. Within and without, the house was lit with lanterns, and Diane said it was charming to eat by the flickering lamps.

Clif and I are still recovering from all the excitement and brouhaha of the ice storm, Christmas, and New Year’s Eve. The house is nearly back to normal, and as I write, another storm—this time snow—is making its way up the East Coast.

Happy New Year to all! Given that we don’t have another power outage, I should be back on schedule in the next day or two.

Nothing strikes fear into a Mainer’s heart quicker than the words “ice storm.” Those of us who have been here for a while will never forget the great ice storm of ’98, where at its peak a half-million people were without power, and the little house in the big woods was without power for 11 days. Because we have a well, this meant we had to haul every bit of water we used. As Shannon is fond of saying, “I was so happy to leave and go back to college.” Who can blame her?

This ice storm is supposed to be much less severe. So far, we haven’t lost our power, and we are doing all that we can, just in case. Yesterday, I made a double batch of pie knots and a quadruple batch of thumb-print cookies. Clif is working on the peanut butter balls as I write. As soon as I’m done with this post, I will vacuum. We have cans of tomato soup and baked beans in the cupboards. And lots of water stored in various containers.

We’re keeping our fingers crossed that all will be well, that we won’t lose our power. However, I have to grudgingly admit, and ice storm does make things pretty.

 Onward and upward! We hope 😉

The countdown really starts, and freezing rain is in the forecast for the weekend. Hoo-boy! I hope we don’t lose our power. Just in case, I will be filling my stockpots with water. I hate it when it rains in the winter. Given that we don’t lose our power, I will be making thumb print cookies and pie knots for the holidays. (Perhaps I’ll make them tomorrow, before the storm comes. Just in case.) Power or not, we can still make peanut butter balls, using our camp stove.

Yesterday, someone who shall remain nameless chastised me for wishing him a happy holiday. “You can say Merry Christmas, and I won’t be offended,” he said in a snarky tone.

“Happy holidays covers it all,” I replied in what I hoped was a breezy manner.

I remain unrepentant. Happy holidays does indeed cover it all. Not everyone is a Christian. Not everyone celebrates Christmas, and as I had just met Mr. Snarky a few hours before wishing him happy holidays, I had no idea what his inclinations or beliefs were.

Therefore, readers, happy holidays to you all. May your power stay on, may your celebrations be merry, and may you eat some wonderful food.

From NPR’s the salt: A nuanced look at meat and dairy consumption. One of the sensible conclusions: Those of us who can afford to eat meat should eat less of it.

From the Washington Post: An experimental way of growing rice in Maryland.

From the New Yorker: Whole Foods comes to Brooklyn. An interesting side note: John Mackey, the C.E.O., is a “staunch libertarian and free-market devotee” who nonetheless doesn’t object to federal subsidies for his stores. Sure thing.

From Salon: While we are on the subject of retail stores…Joan Walsh takes a look at “How America Created a Low-Wage Work Swamp.” According to research from the University of California-Berkeley’s Labor Center and the University of Illinois, “[f]ully 52 percent of fast-food workers’ families receive public assistance – most of it coming from Medicaid, food stamps and the Earned Income Tax Credit.”

On a happier note…from the Portland Press Herald: The winner of the holiday cookie contest—Kransekake Sticks Dipped in Chocolate. Sounds delicious!

Last night, we had our annual book club Christmas party at the library. At this party, we don’t discuss a particular book. Instead, it has become the tradition for group members to tell of one or two books that were personal favorites over the past year. Shane, the intrepid leader of book group, duly notes our recommendations and then sends them via email to everyone in the the book club. Good thing. I have a terrible memory, and while there were many recommendations I was interested in, I’ll be darned if I can remember the titles.

My book recommendation was George Elliot’s Middlemarch. At 888 pages, it’s an astonishing page-turner that kept me reading like a crazy person, even when I should have been doing other things such as housework or cooking or getting ready for Christmas. A masterpiece, that’s for sure.

Along with talking about books, we were also encouraged to deck ourselves in Christmas finery, and to no one’s surprise, the ever natty Mona Baker took first place. There was even a prize—a delicious cheese spread made by Sharon Presti.

On a touching note, Patrice Putman told how aside from her husband and her children, her greatest love was her library card. To her way of thinking, having a good library is essential to having a good life. With a library card, Patrice said, you can read anything and thus go anywhere. (I’m paraphrasing, of course.) As she spoke, we all nodded our heads in agreement, and Margy Knight told of how as a child coming from a big family, the library card was the first thing she had that was truly hers.

Many of us brought cookies to share—I made gingersnaps—and by the end we were not only filled with sweets but also with good cheer and the love of libraries.

And so, dear readers, wherever you live, cherish your libraries and support them anyway you can.