Burrrrrrr!

Like most of the rest of the country (except southern California!), we are freezing our tails off here in Williamsburg. Fortunately, it's not been sub-zero temps like it is up in the Northeast and Midwest. How anyone can stand to live in those climates, I'll never know! The past few days have given us a little taste of that, though--with highs in the 20s to 30s and Friday night's predicted low of 6 degrees (it ended up being a balmy 10 degrees for the low instead). So, what can one do in such cold weather to stay occupied? Here are a few ideas:

1) Bake something: Not only does it provide something yummy to eat, but the hot oven adds a little extra heat to the house! Today I am planning to bake peanut-butter cookies and gingerbread scones. In addition, last week we tried a new recipe called Beer-Can Chicken, compliments of Ben's friend Eric. You basically stick a can of beer up the rear of a whole, marinated chicken and put it in the oven to bake. After the first night, we had so much chicken left over that we made chicken stock, with which we made homemade chicken noodle soup, thereby providing two more nights of dinners. Who knew a chicken could be so fun? And it was VERY tender too!

2) Do a puzzle: These are good for your brain, fun to do, and they can become very addictive! We have just finished one puzzle and are starting a new 3-D, 1000-piece one today.

3) Read a good book: Ben is reading Carlo D'este's biography of Patton right now. I'm about to start the biography of John Newton (author of the hymn "Amazing Grace") by Jonathan Aitken. Just yesterday I finished a book called The Last Sin Eater, one of Francine Rivers' many excellent fiction novels. (I recommend anything she has written--every book I have read by her is impossible for me to put down; her Mark of the Lion series is, in my opinion, the best, but I also have so far read both Leota's Garden and And the Shofar Blew.)

4) Take a drive: The picture at left shows one of the many gloriously colorful sunsets we've had lately. There is something about the cold winter days that produce pretty sunsets (when it's not cloudy, that is). Just because it's too cold to be outside doesn't mean you can't get out and see nature from the warmth of your car :)

5) Watch a good movie: Last night, with popcorn and hot coffee in hand, we watched The Last Sin Eater (based on the book I finished and directed by a Christian director). The night before we checked out (for free, from the library) The Longest Day, a long movie about D-Day in WWII (yep, that was one of Ben's choices). We also rented the old classic by Frank Capra Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, which stars Jimmy Stewart; we plan to watch that today or tomorrow. We've also, for awhile now, been enjoying watching old episodes of the Perry Mason Show, which ran several decades ago and starred Raymond Burr and Barbara Hale. (These are mostly not appropriate for children due to the subject matter, but they are otherwise usually very clean movies that also can make you think!)

6) Play games: Ben and I will never be too old for games! We love them and have a rather large collection! We enjoy group games when we have enough people, such as Cranium, Guesstures, and Taboo, but while it's just the two of us we mostly like playing cards (double solitaire and rummy mostly), Scrabble, Yahtzee, and Trivial Pursuit.

Well, those aren't too many revelatory ideas, I guess, but thought I'd throw them out there. Hope everyone is staying warm. -J