Groundhog Day

 

Yesterday was Groundhog Day, and the groundhog saw his shadow.  That means there is supposed to be 6 more weeks of winter.  Noooooooo.  It's too cooooooold.  I saw this bouquet at the supermarket a while back.  Happy Belated Groundhog Day!

tea at the diner

I ordered tea at the diner and it came with the cutest presentation.  Then towards the end of the meal, the waitress brought over more hot water in the most kawaii container!  I had to google it later to find out that it's a hottle.  I guess it's like a bottle for hot water.  So funny and adorable.  I love hot water.

And last but not least, the takeaway container that said, "made with 40% natural mineral"...  What does that mean?

snow

Happy snow day.  I tried to make a snowman but couldn't get the snow to clump and stick together when attempting to lift a semi-ball off the ground.  It was easier to push the snow into a pile instead and decorate.  Ears make everything cuter too.

tree

It's really great to be able to walk to a park and walk round and round on a path.  Today I was noticing all the trees along the path.  There's a huge pine tree that's practically a perfect triangle.  Then there's a little one, as if someone replanted a Christmas tree in the park.  It's possible, since it's close to where the houses are.

winter walk

 

Google tells me these are winterberries.  Different than the Amur Honeysuckle spotted during warmer weather elsewhere.  Or they could both be the same types.  I'm not a berry expert, but know that they both make humans sick so don't eat them.

Some parts of the park path were still covered with ice and snow but it was walkable with the crunchy grass nearby as an alternative.

Happy New Year!

gingerbread man

 or maybe it's a lady.  The squiggly icing on the legs could be for pant legs or a dress.  Anyway - 

MERRY CHRISTMAS 

& 

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!

lit trees

There was another HUGE tree (the city's designated Christmas tree) - it was probably as big as the Rockefeller tree, all lit up in yellow lights - but I wasn't quick enough to capture it with my camera when we drove by it.  

This one here was just randomly chilling out on the side of the road.  I love multi-colored lights.

This super tall, skinny tree at a quiet, dark intersection I spotted while hiking back to my car in a parking lot far, far away from the winter village.  I was carrying a bag of ramen and soup from the public market and the hill was so steep in that area that it spilled out of the paper lid, soaking the bottom of the paper bag.  Despite all that, clutching the bag provided welcoming warmth during the freezing cold, and the food was still surprisingly warm enough after I got home.  I also got to see SANTA and MRS. CLAUS!

 

mall

Somehow ended up in a mall.  It was my first time there and it was so strange!  It was like stepping into a wormhole.

panettone

 

I bought this panettone from Aldi, with the intention of saving it for Christmas.  Then one day I was hungry and thought - why wait another month?  It won't be as fresh as it is today.  HAHAHAHA

So over the course of a few days I ate most of it, since the others either did not want any or only had a little. And it wasn't as good as I thought it would be.  I thought there was a panettone last year that tasted great.  Did I buy it from somewhere else?  Did my taste buds change?  Did the recipe for this one change?  Maybe it was a different one from Costco?

It's not bad, just not as good as I'd imagined.  However, it's super cute, soft and squishy!  To me, it's more like soft bread (vs cake).  Probably because I'm used to super sweet stuff, like fruit punch and sweet tea.

In writing this up, perhaps I'll remember how it was and not get it again next year.

Happy December!

fireplace

 

The multicolored tree drew me closer and then I saw that there was a real fire going.  A bit of warmth from Cracker Barrel amidst all the chaos that is life was nice.