Saint Silouan Orthodox Church through the spiky lace on a tree.

The air is still and thick.  Fog hugs the ground, the temperature lingers just around 25.  The fog freezes and falls dropping tiny little flakes.  Everything is covered with fine, tiny spikes of ice.  When I picked up two of the grandgirls from school today we could see the gold onion dome of this Orthodox church shining through the trees.  It surprised me with its shine, you can't even see the sky today.  They stayed at my house until it was time to pick up their mom and my van.  For snack we ate the scalloped potatoes I'd made ahead for dinner.  They were good, little onion, little bacon, warm out of the oven.  There was even a few left for dinner, great food for a cold day.  Then one girl finished decorating my Christmas tree.  It looks good, and its dark enough in the afternoon to turn all the lights on.  I don't think I've ever put up a tree this early before.

It's been a week of events.  Something happened to the fuel injection mechanism in the van and it went in for repairs Thursday.  Then the estimate came in at around $300, I was expecting something worse, I was kind of relieved.  In the evening I got a call announcing the arrival of the newest member of my youngest son's family.  They received a three month old boy they hope to adopt.  They been waiting awhile for him, and little does he know he now has six older sisters both homegrown and adopted.  They are all daffy for him.  This afternoon I got to meet him.  He just smiled.  Kind of like getting a baby in your Christmas stocking.  I got my van back and it runs fine now, the gas mileage should improve some. The baby, well, he eats, sleeps, and poops. That's his job.

Saturday is supposed to be the last total eclipse of the moon for a couple of years, with the peak view showing around 6am here in the Pacific Northwest.  A doable time of day if the fog lets up a little.  I will be up to look just in case.  You can read about it here.  Eclipse  Meanwhile it feels like everyone is waiting quietly for something to happen.  Christmas?  A bit of clear sky?  Makes me want to hibernate.  If I eat many more scalloped potatoes and meatloaf I will sleep all winter.