Skip to main content

Friday Five: Winter's on the Way...

The Friday Five prompts come from here.

SingingOwl writes that she needs to plan ahead for the winter activities and seek a little inspiration. I just chuckle because, though it might technically still be fall, winter's been in my neck of the woods for a while.

1. What is your favorite movie for watching when curled up under a wooly blanket?
Something sweet or funny. I don't like violent or scary movies. When people hear that, they often tell me that I need to toughen up. I just point out that I have actually seen people die and I'm tough enough. I don't need that in my escapism. I also love to have a mini-marathon of television episodes. Frasier and Big Bang Theory bring on the giggles and make me feel cozy.

2. Likewise, what book?
In my quest to reach 1,000 new books, I hardly re-read these days. However, Bill Bryson's travelogues In a Sunburned Country (Australia) and A Walk in the Woods (Applachian Trail) always make me happy to read them again. And, of course, nothing beats Luther's Small Catechism for a stimulating and, simultaneously, comforting read.

Just kidding.

3. What foods do you tend to cook/eat when it gets cold?
Moose chili, homemade pretzels, brownies, spaghetti with bison, peppers, mushrooms and lots of garlic, snow cream, bread, oranges, clam chowder, lentil stew. Grilled chicken is for the summer. I like red meat, tomato sauces, butter and slow cooking in the winter. Mmmm...

4. What do you like to do if you get a "snow day" (or if you don't get snow days, what if you did)?
The first snow I remember I was probably 4 and my family lived in Wake Forest, NC. My mom spent a while suiting me up (probably equal to the amount of time I actually spent outside) and I remember her putting plastic bags over my socks before I put my feet in my shoes, so that my feet would stay dry. (I came in fairly quickly because I got scared by a neighbor's dog.) However, I've never forgotten the plastic bags. Now, where I live requires real winter shoes. My 14-month old has snow boots, so we don't often use the plastic bag scenario.

To wit, snow days don't really happen here.

5. Do you like winter sports or outdoor activities, or are you more likely to be inside playing a board game? Do you have a favorite (indoors or out)?
I like cross-country skiing. I'd like to try snow-shoeing, but I need a companion. My husband thinks, "Why walk when you can ski?", so he's not much help. I also like winter photography, so that lends itself to more walks, but cold hands. And winter is a good time for Scrabble tournaments.

Comments

Diane M. Roth said…
"why walk when you can ski" -- I have to try skiing one of these winters. great to get to know you! good luck with the every day challenge! I did it last year, and I'm doing that well this year.
Cookie said…
I have yet to watch a Big Bang Theory that has not made me giggle. I'm with you on the violent and scary movies. I can enjoy a good action flick, but not when it revolves around a lot killing.

Popular posts from this blog

Latibule

I like words and I recently discovered Save the Words , a website which allows you to adopt words that have faded from the English lexicon and are endanger of being dropped from the Oxford English Dictionary. When you adopt a word, you agree to use it in conversation and writing in an attempt to re-introduce said word back into regular usage. It is exactly as geeky as it sounds. And I love it. A latibule is a hiding place. Use it in a sentence, please. After my son goes to bed, I pull out the good chocolate from my latibule and have a "mommy moment". The perfect latibule was just behind the northwest corner of the barn, where one had a clear view during "Kick the Can". She tucked the movie stub into an old chocolate box, her latibule for sentimental souvenirs. I like the sound of latibule, though I think I would spend more time defining it and defending myself than actually using it. Come to think of it, I'm not really sure how often I use the ...

What is Best (Sermon)

Pentecost 15 (Year A)  Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-9; Psalm 15; James 1:17-27;  Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23 I recently read a novel set in a post-pandemic, apocalyptic world. In the book, people were working to re-establish pockets of society. A traveling symphony moved from town to town in caravans- performing music and works of Shakespeare. Early in their travels, they had tried other plays, but people only wanted to see Shakespearean works. One of the symphony members commented on the desire for Shakespeare, "People want what was best about the world." As I read and since I finished the book, I kept thinking about that phrase.  People want what was best about the world. People want what was best about the world. That is true even when we’re not in a cataclysmic re-working of what we’ve always known. The very idea of nostalgia, of longing for what once was, is about wanting what was best about the world or what seemed like the best to us. One of the massive tension...

Would I Do?

Palm Sunday Mark 11:1-11 One of my core memories is of a parishioner who said, "I don't think I would have been as brave as the three in the fiery furnace. I think I would have just bowed to the king. I would have bowed and known in my heart that I still loved God. I admire them, but I can tell the truth that I wouldn't have done it." (Daniel 3) To me, this man's honesty was just as brave. In front of his fellow Christians, in front of his pastor, he owned up to his own facts: he did not believe he would have had the courage to resist the pressures of the king. He would have rather continued to live, being faithful in secret, than risk dying painfully and prematurely for open obedience to God.  I can respect that kind of truth-telling. None of us want to be weighed in the balance and found wanting. For some of us, that's our greatest fear. The truth is, however, that I suspect most of us are not as brave as we think we are. The right side of history seems cle...