Ready for Spring!

The day of Arcade's 40th Annual Winterfest celebration was one of the snowiest, windiest we've had. It lived up to it's name. It was very appropriate for Winterfest. There were even snow sculptures this year, the first time they've had those in 5 or 6 years. That was good to see.

Now, however, I am ready for the end of winter weather. As much as I really do like snow, I'm just tired of the very cold winter we've had. More days in the teens or below than I remember for a while. But it has been pretty to look at.

Tunisia, then Egypt, perhaps Libya shortly. What next?

On Saturday, January 15, a day after Tunisia's president was forced into exile by massive street demonstrations, the Middle East was still reeling, with calls for copycat protests reverberating across the Internet, in cafés and on street corners as far afield as Jordan and Yemen. For the first time in the history of a part of the world long calcified by autocratic rule, a dictator had been forced from office by a popular revolt, and it was all broadcast live on television

On February 11, 2011, Egypt's president, Hosni Mubarak resigned after weeks of protest in Cairo and other cities. People gathered in Tharir Square in Cairo and refused to leave until Mubarak stepped down, which he finally did. He had been in charge of Egypt for 30 years. I heard it said that 2/11 was like our 9/11 (but only in the sense that things took a life-changing turn on that day, I would say)

How it looks like a similar revolt of the people is happening in Libya to force Col. Moammar Gadhafi to step down. He has been in power since a bloodless coup in 1969. It's hard to tell today how the protests will turn out.
Feb 14, 2011, three days after the fall of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, calls went out on Facebook for peaceful demonstrations in Libya against Gadhafi.
Feb 16, Roughly 200 protesters took to the streets in the coastal city of Benghazi to show support for lawyer and human rights activist Fathi Terbil, according to witnesses. The government announced it was nothing serious.
Feb 17, State-run media reported that the government released 110 political prisoners and that a committee would be convened to consider major changes to the government. Calls were posted on websites for a "Day of Rage" on what is the five-year anniversary of an incident in which security forces killed at least a dozen protesters.
Feb 19, Protests continued to turn violent, however the death and injury toll is unclear. Witnesses said protests have erupted in cities across the country.
Feb 21, Early Monday morning, Gadhafi's son Saif al-Islam Gadhafi appeared on state television to warn demonstrators that if their protests do not subside, the country could fall into a civil war. Late this afternoon, The Arab League announced it will hold an urgent summit Tuesday about Libya, Egypt's official news agency reported.

Then there's Wisconsin, where the governor is trying to end collective bargaining of the state's public employees. Massive protests are going on there as well and the Democratic legislators have left the state to prevent the legislature from having a quorum to pass the bill that would enforce this.

To me, the demonstrations in Wisconsin by the affected people and their supporters, don't look a whole lot different from the protests in Tunisia, Egypt & Libya. They are all protesting for what they consider their rights which the government is either trying to take away or not recognizing. Hmm. Wonder what state might be next.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Partly due to the time of year, of course. We still have snow on the ground, which may be mostly gone tomorrow with expected rain. But that rain will turn back to snow & it is expected to turn very cold & snow much of the rest of the week.

It's also looking more like Christmas inside the house since we put the tree up tonight. Decorations may have to wait until we replace a string of lights that is out, though. But our candles are in all the windows, the wreath is on the outside of the front door and the Advent calendar is on the inside.

Christmas cards are being finished & will be mailed shortly. And Christmas music is playing.

First of December -- First major snow

It rained all night Nov 30th -- perhaps 1½ inches. Then around 8am it turned to snow. It was a wet heavy snow -- would have been great for snowmen. There were accidents, cars sliding off the road. Rt 39 was closed after Gordon got to the hospital to see patients, so he wasn't able to get back to see his morning patients at the office. Since he had a meeting at the hospital at noon, he just stayed there & saw his nursing home patients & then attended his meeting. By then Rt 39 was open again & he got back mid afternoon & saw his re-scheduled morning patients.

This morning there is just light snow here, slippery underneath. Buffalo and surrounding suburbs got the brunt of it and schools are closed from East Aurora north.

Thanksgiving at home

We celebrated Thanksgiving with just the two of us because Gordon was on call and did not know when he might be able to get home. After helping me put the stuffing in the turkey he left for the hospital to see patients and handle whatever calls came in for the day.

The turkey went in at 1pm and I worked on everything else that would go with the dinner, including, of course, pie. Gordon was home before the turkey was done and didn't have to go out again that evening.

He did a fine job of carving the turkey too.

Time for Secret Santa at the medical office

Once a week for 4 weeks each of us gives their drawn name a "Secret Santa" gift -- from the dollar store. Then Wednesday of the 4th week we meet for our Christmas party (place to be named later).

This week I received 2 gifts (necessary because the party is during the 4th week). They were: a (seasonal) magnetic notepad for the refrigerator and a small Santa plate/candy dish.

Second weekly gift was a Christmas elf that's weighted to sit on a shelf or mantelpiece.

Third weekly gift (Fri, Dec 10) was a set of snowmen salt & pepper shakers! I hadn't even seen this sort of salt & pepper shakers since I was a kid. My mom had a collection of all sorts of different ones.

Banned Books Week

We're using this poster in the library for Banned Books Week.

September 26-Oct 3 is Banned Books Week. We have a display of some of the books on this year's list of banned or challenged books. I also found a PowerPoint that illustrates the point very well.
Click here to see it.