We have returned to the dark, gray-and-white winter from warmer, sunnier Houston. The midwest is welcoming us home by snowing.<\/p>\n
Relatives seen: 12. Much thanks to the San Antonio folks for making the trip!<\/p>\n
Lemons brought back: 5. Plus an eggplant.<\/p>\n
Lemons still growing in my parents’ back yard: Dozens. Also, several huge, juicy oranges.<\/p>\n
Types of meat eaten at Tradicao, a Brazilian restaurant: Six–filet mignon, the house special beef, salmon, chicken wrapped in bacon, pork with parmesan, and some other kind of beef.<\/p>\n
Piano pieces played: 3. Canon in D, which I’ve finally relearned from my fifth-grade lessons; O Come All Ye Faithful, which I’m still working on; and The Swan from the Carnival of the Animals, which I just bought from musicnotes.com when I decided I want to keep playing the piano.<\/p>\n
Books read: 2-3. A fluffy mystery (Death Threads<\/em>) and the second Diary of a Wimpy Kid book, which I borrowed from the first-grader on Christmas Day. Plus most of Character, Emotion, & Viewpoint<\/em>, which I thought I had read before but seem to have been misremembering.<\/p>\n Present-opening events: 3. Once with the San Antonio group, once with just my parents, and once with the nephews.<\/p>\n Movies seen: 3. The Hobbit<\/em> was really good, barring a few false steps (too much action). We watched Psycho<\/em> and Plan 9 from Outer Space<\/em> as well. The less said of the latter the better.<\/p>\n Types of cookies eaten: 6? As always my favorites were my mother’s Mexican wedding cookies. I also liked my aunt’s frosted lime-flavored Christmas trees and my sister-in-law’s mint brownies. I’m glad I didn’t do any baking of my own this year.<\/p>\n Recipes sampled from Modernist Cuisine at Home<\/em>: 2, microwave-fried parsley and eggplant parmesan.<\/p>\n Stories revised: About a half.<\/p>\n Novel scenes written: Approximately 5, at varying levels of detail.<\/p>\n Times I wondered how we could fall of a cliff if it’s looming over us, which means we must be at the bottom of it: At least twice.<\/p>\n Raccoon invasions in our absence: NONE<\/p>\n Happy New Year! May your 2013 be full of food and books and empty of raccoons.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" We have returned to the dark, gray-and-white winter from warmer, sunnier Houston. The midwest is welcoming us home by snowing. Relatives seen: 12. Much thanks to the San Antonio folks for making the trip! Lemons brought back: 5. Plus an … Continue reading