Blue, blue, the Moon is Blue - III

Big Blue is well on it's way into the new year, a new year and the second decade of a new millenium. Blue moons are new beginnings. In the spirit of the blue moon and new beginnings, on December 15th (midway between the 1st and 2nd full moons of December) Poppy donated $400 to UNICEF USA to help create new beginnings for the estimated 24,000 children that die daily from totally preventable causes. That would be $100 for Mom and me, and $100 each for the children. A small price to pay. Welcome in the new year with the blue moon knowing that you helped save babies that would otherise not have seen this, nor any, blue moon.

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Blue, blue, the Moon is Blue - II

Finally big blue is high above the horizon. Here are a few photos of the special event. Granted they don't look like much, but you know the moon is moving away from us at about an inch per year. When we, and the moon, were young it was so close that tides were well over 1,000 ft. So where were the Hawaiian surfer girls then? If I only knew.

Mooned!

Blue, blue, the Moon is Blue - I

Here it is, the long awaited evening. Katie remembered this sacred event and saw the moon rising in the east on her way to IL. (I've heard that Blue Moons can play havoc with the electric grid. Hope there are no turkey breasts in the oven in IL.) My view here at the center of the universe is blocked by magnificant Blue Spruce trees which set the line of demarcation between civilization and the ghetto. Blue is good, be it moons, trees, or summer afternoon skies. I'll check progress after supper, and let you know.

Johnson's Barber Shop

A family tradition was renewed last Tuesday when both Chris and Oliver got hair cuts from Mickey Johnson, the former owner and now semi-retired barber at Johnson's Barber Shop. It was kind of like a blast from the past in that nothing in the shop has changed in the past 25 years. And of course, Poppy paid.

Action photos.

Christmas 2009

Several weeks ago (That would be the 1st weekend in Dec, an eternity in pre- and post- blizzard F'burg), Poppy began creating the Christmas Wonderland on Wendt Rd. that GG and he love so much! Just a dusting of snow and fairly warm (well above 0) temperatures greeted him. Tim came over to trim the tree that Poppy grew. (Poppy has no idea how to trim a tree, except with a chainsaw.) Then, all winter hell broken loose, a BLIZZARD (and I don't mean Earl!) hit. Snow, snow, snow, snow. After 16" of snow and 4+ hours, Poppy cleaned up the mess (see previous Snow, snow, snow, snow blog entry for additional detail.) A few days later on Christmas eve, while K&J were without power in IL, Tim came over to enjoy Mama's lemon chicken. And, as always, it was very tasty. A treat for 3. On Christmas day Tim re-appeared along with Katie & Jason. Lots of presents were exchanged, food eaten, and good times had. On the menu, Poppy's pizza, and it was very nice I might add. An enjoyable Christmas day. The day after Christmas, GG's birthday (I won't say how many, except one more than Poppy), Katie came over. The next day the Minnesotans arrived -- Chris, Em, Oliver and Charlotte (oh, Brucie too). Tim and Sarah, and Katie and Jason also came over. It was great, good company, grandchildren (did I mention just how sweet Oliver and Charlotte are?), and food. Lots of food. King crab legs and shrimp topped the bill, along with sour cream potatoes, home made corn, cardinal salad, and Christmas bread. It took Poppy an hour to finish eating! The next day gifts were exchanged and all enjoyed watching Oliver rip through the presents. Sometimes he missed the actual present in his exuberance. Overall it was a very good time. Now all have returned to their respective homes. Nothing left to do but the washing up, and enjoying the memories.

Oh and a few photos too.

Mine's The Fattest of them All

Toad Madness

Unfortunately, my not so thin toad is fatter than Katie's very thin cookie. Guess I'll just have to eat the cookie and release the toad. (I wonder how toad on bagel tastes?)

Poppy's toad:














Katie's cookie:














You be the judge.

Thin Cookie Madness

Because the true measure of a Brown woman (or McKeever or Smart) is how thin her thin cookies are, I decided to accept the challenge. The pictures below attempt to demonstrate their thiness, though admittedly it's hard to capture with a mere photo. Rest assured they are thinner than the thinnest piece of paper.

At least the first couple batches were. I'm sick of making them and Jason is now trying to use up the dough by making some thick thin cookies.

Cookie Mania

Snow. snow, snow, snow

F, F, F, Snow

The 'burg took a big hit overnight. The Mama and Molly and Poppy woke up to 16 inches of the "white stuff". Mama was happy because GFC was closed, Poppy was happy because Risie had to close the Lab, but Molly hated it (no where to take care of business). Tim told all of his employees to work from home as he did, Katie also reluctantly stayed home. Jason worked from the Madison site, a short 10 minute walk from home. All were safe from "global warming."

Then Poppy had to blow and shovel. Here are a few photos of his 4 hour (hell of a way to skip work) ordeal.

PS Add your own captions. The big P can't get them to work, and really doesn't care right now.

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