The 2023 Not-Scallion

OK, so, as you know, I am no longer writing a Scallion. Too much work and not enough fun when doing it alone. And last year's not-Scallion was fine, but it wasn't great. So I decided to just do a picture card this year. But then throughout the month of December, I had a bunch of people say, "Can't wait to get your holiday letter to find out what you did this year!" And as you know, I'm just egotistical enough to take that as permission to write a blog post about it.

But for those of you who remember our original holiday letter—long before there was ever a Scallion—our lives are B-O-R-I-N-G. And not only has that not changed since Vic died, but it's even worse, because even boring people might do one or two exciting things, but when you're just a solo act, it's a lot harder to find something worthy of sharing.

But I won't let that stop me from telling you about my glacier, my knitting and my birds and sharing more than a dozen pictures of Bella. It's never gonna be as good as the Scallion. Let that be a lesson to all of you "I can't wait to hear about your year!" people. 

You may remember from last year's holiday letter that my driveway faces north. And those of you who live in Colorado may remember that we had a snowstorm followed by some warm days (just enough to melt some of the snow) followed by another storm (or two or three) followed by some very cold days. I have a snow blower, and over the winter, I learned the best way to clear my driveway, but unfortunately, that stopped at ... the driveway. So eventually, there was a glacier at the end of my driveway, and I know it was a glacier because I went to Alaska in July.

As it got warmer (and I use that term loosely), I started chipping away at the ice every day. Some days I got an inch cleared, some days a foot, but it was S-L-O-W going. So here are pictures of Olympia Glacier in the middle of January, about half cleared, and me holding a chunk. (I would like to point out that this is the depth of the chunk, not the width. The ice was six inches thick in some places. I would also like to point out that I have learned how to clear the end of my driveway now, so I am hoping for no repeat of Olympia Glacier.)

Two weeks later marks the end of Olympia Glacier:

In February, I got to host my sister here while she was recovering from a surgery. She slept while I worked, and we watched Shrinking while I wasn't working. Notice Bella in the background—sleeping, as usual.

Last year, I took up knitting. Those of you who know me know that I started my crafting journey with counted cross stitch, then moved on to counted needlepoint, beading and crochet. I had tried my hand at knitting in the past. Let's just say I was unsuccessful. But one of the companies I buy yarn for had a kit for a knitted shawl, and I loved it so much that I decided, "How hard can knitting be?" I'll tell you how hard. Damn hard. But one of my friends from Crochet Date Night™, Donna, gave me some pointers about the yarn I was using ("Don't use that yarn") and the needles I was using ("Don't use those needles.") and told me how to get started. I made a sampler scarf, and it was ... not as hard. Last year, I found a knitted hat pattern that I wanted and downloaded it, thinking I would just make a crochet version, but now that I was a knitting expert because I had knitted one whole thing, I decided I could knit my hat. AND I DID! And this is all I did in March, which tells you why I still don't love knitting.

I got more birds nesting on my porch! This mama bird came in April ...

... and these baby birds left in May:

The interesting thing is that those spikes were installed so as to deter birds, but they really provide the framework for their nests! Just like this pair in the back who took refuge in a previous pair's nest during a cold snap:

In addition to the cold snap, we had quite a bit of hail this year. These pix are from the first hail in May (I only took videos of the second hail), but the second hail was so deep I had to shovel it! No hail damage, thank goodness, since I have a brand spankin' new roof!

May also brought the return of flower boxes on my porch!

Laura and I took a trip to Iowa/Nebraska for the wedding of our niece, Amber, to her husband, Jacob. It was a lovely wedding, and we got to spend some time with our stepmom and siblings! When we weren't visiting with family, Laura and I watched almost the entire third season of Ted Lasso.

Note the little statue on their cake representing their dog! So cute!

Always nice to see our stepmom!

I was really touched when I arrived at the reception to find a little area set aside as a memorial dedicated to those the bride and groom have lost, including, from left to right, Vic, my stepbrother Don, and my dad. Don's widow put it best when she said, "There are no steps in our family." Amber knew my dad (she's on his lap in this photo) as her grandpa, so it wasn't a surprise to see him honored, but to have Vic represented really meant a lot to me. 🥰

In June I turned the big Six-Oh. Laura threw me a birthday bash with two (TWO!) cakes that were beautiful and delicious! The top one is a beach-themed cake—that crumble on the right was to die for—and the bottom one is a Harry Potter/"Weird Al" mashup inspired by Daniel Radcliffe's turn as "Weird Al" in the "Weird Al" "biopic" Weird.

In July, I went to Alaska. If you want to know more than "It was great," you'll have to hop on over to my other blog, Love Talk. This link will take you to part 1. Yes, it is a total of six parts—do you not know me at all? I am not renowned for my brevity.

August was the saddest month for my family. Our beloved cousin Kim (who was also a wife, mother, daughter, sister, niece and friend) passed away unexpectedly. I burned up the freeway to Nebraska (while Laura came down from Wisconsin, where she had been visiting my nephew and his family), and we had a little family reunion. Ald although we were sad, it didn't keep us girl cousins from gathering at our Aunt Phyllis's (along with cousin Amy's kids and Kim's stepmom, Nancy) for a pajama party.

The serious picture: 27 pictures taken, only one in which everyone looks good

The zany picture: one and done

After Laura went back to Wisconsin, Norma and I went to the Sunken Gardens, one of Vic's favorite places in Lincoln as well as cousin Kim's. We really felt like we were honoring their memory by going there.

In September, Bella and I went yarn shopping. If you read the Alaska blogs, you'll know that I bought a lot of yarn in Canada and Alaska. Does that mean I don't need more? I mean, yes, sure. Does that mean I won't get my Longmont Yarn Shoppe anniversary yarn? Nope. It sure doesn't. Bella got to come yarn shopping with me this year, and as you can see from her tail—firmly tucked underneath her—she did not have as much fun as I did.

Laura also came up for an overnight. She really just wanted to come up for a visit, but naturally, I put her to work on the house. (You can read more about her visit over on my other other blog, The Widow's Peek.) Suffice it to say that when we weren't working on the house, we were watching ... something. What, I'm supposed to remember everything we watch? We watch a lot of TV when we're together! (And to be fair, she didn't remember either!) The next morning, we had breakfast with Margeaux and Xan's youngest, Roz. (Margeaux and Xan were also there, but they are not as cute as Roz. No offense, M&X.)

In October, there was an eclipse. Vic loved eclipses, and I'm sure he would have taken a lot of really cool pictures. I took two, and they were only moderately cool.

This is a picture I took with my cell phone. You can't really see the eclipse in the big disk of the sun, but you can see it in the lens flare underneath. This would be very cool if I'd intended to take it, but instead it was just a happy accident.

This is one of the popular ways of watching an eclipse if you don't have eclipse glasses or you don't want to stare directly at the sun and blind yourself. I do have eclipse glasses, but I noticed this before I went outside. It's just the sun shining through my window with a bite taken out of it by the moon.

Laura came up for another overnight in October, and this time I did not put her to work. All we did was watch season 3 of Only Murders in the Building, and it was fantastic! But if it's October, it must also be pumpkin patch season. Longmont has a great pumpkin patch with rides and activities for the kiddos. I met Laura and Bill as well as Margeaux, Xan and the kids there on a ridiculously hot day in October, and despite the heat, it was loads of fun.

Will, 5, in the balloon house

Fin, 7, in the sand art tent

Madi, 9, after riding this pony

Roz, 3, after getting her face painted

Thanksgiving was an embarrassment of riches in that I got to celebrate with my whole immediate family as well as some fun family friends. I spent most of my time there with my niece and nephew, which was basically just three hours of merrymaking. I grabbed them for a rare "formal" shot of the three of us, during which I accidentally said something inappropriate. You can see Nick's "Oh my gosh, Aunt Patty, did you just say that?" face and Margeaux's "Oh my gosh, Aunt Patty, I can't believe you just said that!" face in the top picture. Although Nick and Margeaux gamely tried to save the day (see bottom picture), I could not stop laughing, and we finally gave up on getting something sweeter. I would argue—and I think Nick and Margeaux would agree—that these pictures are far more memorable than anything else we could have taken that day. As usual, the day flew by, and I wished for days of yore (who talks like that?) when Vic and I would spend an entire day sometime between Christmas and New Year's with Nick and Margeaux shopping at Flatiron Crossing, having a lunch (which was usually McDonald's because we could never decide between P.F. Chang's and Red Robin) and going to a movie. It would be fun to bring that tradition back and include Xan and the six greats, but wrangling 10 people is a lot harder than wrangling four. Still, you can't beat a priceless moment like this:

Finally we come to December and Luminova. If you've ever been to Zoo Lights or Blossoms of Light, you know what Luminova is: Elitch Gardens bedecked and bedazzled with Christmas lights. This is what Laura wanted for her birthday this year, and I was more than happy to oblige. We all had a blast, other than the fact that it was ridiculously cold. So cold. Bone-chilling cold. I watched the kids have fun riding rides by themselves, we had fun riding rides with the kids, and we paid way too much for hot chocolate. (Although I maintain that complaining about the prices with my niece was as much fun as anything else we did that night save one: the spider ride.)

You know The Spider, right? Eight legs that independently go up and down while the ride spins around in a circle, two cars attached to each leg that also spin around? The Spider was invented in 1973, right at the beginning of my prime amusement park years. I have probably been on The Spider 1 million times in my life. Or 20. Somewhere between 20 and 1 million, for sure. And as an old-fashioned ride, there is definitely a human element to it. If you just sit there, you'll have fun. But if you lean into the turns, you'll have Fun.

We leaned into the turns.

We scream-laughed all through that ride, and I do not remember the last time I laughed that much. Other than Thanksgiving. (See above.)

Addendum: Xan (my nephew) took a video of us and Madi and Will on The Spider, and I have to say, it does not look like it went as fast as I thought, and it does not look like we were spinning around as much as I thought, so maybe I'm so old that a tiny bit of spinning feels like taking an aerobatic flight in an open air plane. Anyway, check us out here—Madi and Will are in car 3, and we're in car 4.

 And then these are just a few of the pix I took at Luminova:

Margeaux, Xan and the kids in the snowman

Me and Madi on the ferris wheel

Roz and Fin in the teacups

Will in the teacups with Roz and Fin

The inside of a tree of lights looking up—incredible! 

Loved this bronco, but I did think I got a better picture of it.

Rudolph!

Me and Laura after our epic ride on the Spider

I know what you're thinking. What did Bella do all year? As you'll see from the pictures below, she did cute. And she slept. Cute and slept: Bella's M.O.

This is a series showing how Bella does not like to have her picture taken. I do not know what she thinks the camera is, but even just lifting the phone up as if you're going to take a picture of her ruffles her fur. Oh, well. She is Bella after all.

Bella follows the sun through the house all day.

This starts a series of Bella getting a bite of cornbread. 

Such a polite eater!

Love the way her head is cocked in this one!

She only woke up when she heard the click of the camera. She was pretty grumpy about it, too.

"OK, you can take the picture, but I am not going to look at you."

Modeling her new neckerchief from the Salty Dog Cafe in South Carolina, a gift from Laura and Bill

"Still not looking at you."

"ARE WE GOING FOR A WALK?????"

Yes, Bella, we are going for a walk.

And that's the end of 2023! Far longer than any letter would have been and it probably took more time, but then, I've never been one to take five minutes to do something when I could take 10 minutes instead.

I know many of you had hardships in 2023, but I hope you were able to find moments of joy amid your pain and sorrow, and I wish you nothing but the best in 2024!