Category Archives: weather

Treasure Hunting

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In an effort to kill two birds with one shot (photo shot, that is) here is a picture of Katie’s new old car AND the first snow of the season.

I wish she would settle on a name for her car. I’m voting for Scarlet, but the jury’s still out. It’s just that it’s so much easier to throw out a name whilst talking about her car than saying “her car”. Which sounds better to you?

1. Katie’s car wears the snow as if it’s a mink coat; or
2. Scarlet wears the snow as if it’s a mink coat.

(Killing birds, mink coat – I hope PETA doesn’t read Jenster’s Musings.)

Anyway, Todd’s been a very busy boy. In recent months he has gotten into wood working and has been slowly amassing equipment. All those power tools need a place to live and not in the middle of the garage willy nilly. We have a double garage with two windows on one wall so he’s decided to make that side his workshop. Which is a great plan, except for the fact that we have several boxes neatly tucked along that wall. Boxes that were put there by the moving guys when we moved into the house nearly 6 years ago. So now he’s going through the boxes and making a throw away pile, a yard sale pile, a put away pile and an I have no idea so I’ll have to ask Jen pile. It’s turning into quite a treasure hunt!

One of the first treasures he came across was a bag with our Christmas stockings in it. Yes, folks. We’ve celebrated Christmas six times in this house and never once with stockings. Christmas 2012 is going to be awesome!

Look at what other treasures he found:

I used to collect music boxes and bought this one at the San Francisco Music Company on Pier 39 in San Francisco about 25 years ago. You pull the little cable car down to the bottom of the hill and it slowly goes up the street to “I Left My Heart in San Francisco”.

My two favorite stuffed animals ever. My grandparents gave me Winnie the Pooh when I was really little and I can’t even count how many times he had to be sewn up here or there. When I was in elementary school and we would be learning about fire safety I would lay in my bed at night and go over how I would get out of the house if there was a fire. My plan would always include grabbing Winnie. When I would start to imagine the fire and NOT getting Winnie out I would end up crying in my bed. I loved Winnie.

The other is the first stuffed animal Todd gave me. I called him LT – short for Little Todd. Cheesy, I know. What can I say? I was young and silly.

I have no idea where I got this. Really? A size 5?

My Grandmother’s jewelry box.

Because of my love for music boxes I was given this one when my grandfather passed away. It had been given to him and my grandmother for their 50th wedding anniversary by my other grandmother so it’s doubly special to me.

There were other goodies (and a ton of junk) that was found, but there are still a few more boxes to go through. I can’t wait to see what’s to be found next!

Five (+1) On The Day After Friday

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I was on the run all day yesterday and the only chance I had to do my Five on Friday post (3rd edition) was as I was climbing into bed last night, but I would have had to do it on my iPhone and there was no way that was happening. So I’m changing things up a bit this week. To keep with the alliteration, this week’s edition is Six on Saturday.

Yesterday morning my heart soared with unabashed joy because:

1.     It was deliciously chilly and you all know how I feel about fall. It’s the most wonderful time of the year;

2.     I wore jeans for the first time in several months and they fit; and

3.     My Friday Bible Study Group (aka my Homies) had our first official meeting.

And all that was all before noon!

4.     Todd and I met some good friends (and made a couple new ones) at a new-to-us restaurant last night. It was my first experience with Guatemalan food and I am in love. And not just a little in love, but wholeheartedly.

5.     This morning was another CLEAR brunch and it was fabulous. I know I say that every single time, but it really was fabulous. If you live anywhere near me you should come. Really.

AND

6.     This afternoon I went to a wedding shower for a young friend of mine at the house she and her husband-to-be will be sharing after their nuptials. I’d like to share a few thoughts:

        *      The house is a charming cottage with gorgeous moldings and hardwood floors and dormers and a wonderful side/back yard. It’s the perfect starter house and the vintage charm makes me the teensiest bit jealous. But in a good way.

        *      Her sister/my friend (and photographer extraordinaire) staged the shower outside under these wonderful large oak (I think) trees and it looked like something out of a magazine.

        *      It started raining, but the wonderful large trees of some type made a great canopy.

        *      The great canopy only worked for so long so we all grabbed stuff and moved the party inside.

        *      It was a great way to spend an afternoon.

Goodnight, Irene

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So here’s how the whole Madame Irene thing went down in Casa de Jenster Saturday night. We had wind and rain and rain and wind and then we found out there was a tornado warning in our area so Katie and I decided to take advantage of the basement. After all, we lived near Tornado Alley for all those years without a basement or a storm shelter. Now that we have a basement it just seemed the prudent thing to do.

At 11:20-ish Saturday night we got all comfy downstairs and turned on the TV to watch Saturday Night Live. But SNL never came on because the news people felt it necessary to tell us there was a hurricane with wind and rain in our area over and over, ad nauseum. By that time we were seeing all the damage that had happened down south and hearing about all the power outages and we were prepared for the worst.

Canned food – check
Chips/cookies – check
Bottled water – check
Cases of soda – check
Flashlights – check

My biggest concern was how I would make coffee if we lost power. Seriously! How would I have made coffee if we lost power?? But we did’t lose power. Our basement didn’t flood. We didn’t lose any trees or branches or shutters or anything at all.

Here’s what I can’t figure out, though. Katie “called” the futon on the way down and I said I’d take the love seat. So here’s this little girl (I know she’s nearly 17, but she’s little in stature), comfortably sprawled out on the opened futon and then there I am, not so little, folded into the parameters of the love seat WITH THE DOG. Eventually Todd came down and he took the recliner. Doesn’t that seem all backwards to you?

Anyway, Irene hit around 2:00-ish, but we couldn’t hear the havoc she was wreaking from our safety of the basement. Sometime about 4:00 Todd sat up, said, “This is bull^#:%” (this from a man who doesn’t normally cuss) and went up to bed. I finally got up sometime around 7:00 after a night of very little sleep and went up to sleep in Taylor’s bed so I wouldn’t disturb Todd or hit his shoulder (he had shoulder surgery about 8 weeks ago) and finally fell into a deep sleep. At 11:30 I came downstairs to see Todd dozing in his chair and Katie sitting at the table eating a bowl of cereal and reading. Third service starts at 11:30 and Katie looks at me and says, “I take it we’re not going to church this morning.” Ya think?

We turned on the news and that’s when we started seeing all the wide-spread flooding in our area and all the people around us with no power. This morning as I drove to work I found out the main road outside of our development is flooded so I had to get creative and find another route.

This area is peppered with creeks and stream and rivers so it’s no wonder we would have a lot of flooding after the torrential rains. Here’s a picture I “borrowed” from a friend of a friend and shows a big intersection not too far from here:

Last week was quite a ride for us east coasters. An earthquake, a hurricane, tornadoes and flooding. I’d ask what’s next but I don’t really want to jinx it.

News Flash!

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This just in! Two-thirds of the country is experiencing some fairly extreme weather! Who knew??

Last week we had about a foot-and-a-half of snow. This week we had a little less than an inch of ice. I’ll take multiple feet of snow over a light coating of ice any day. With that said, as long as the ice doesn’t weigh down and break tree limbs or power lines it is beautiful.

Our school district allows for three snow days before they have to start either taking away vacation days or tagging on more days to the end of the year. The first snow day is fun. The second snow day is fun. By the third time they call a snow day it’s getting old. Today is our fourth snow day.

Thankfully it’s raining now which means the ice on the roads and driveways should be gone by this afternoon and maybe, just maybe, we can go to work/school tomorrow! That would be fabulous.

Road Trip!

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Last Thursday I drove three hours one way in the snow just to pick Taylor up from where he was being dropped off by a friend from school. While that might sound horrible to some, it was truly one of the best days of my life.

For starters, I sang ALL.THE.WAY.THERE. I belted it. Aretha has nothing on me. Alternative, classic rock, worship, Motown, pop… it was awesome.

Not only that, but I was alone with just me and my own thoughts for three hours – and I had many thoughts during that time, some of which I’m going to share with you.

It was about 24 degrees out when I left and it seemed to take the car forever to warm up.  I’m guessing that’s because I kept stopping before it had a chance to heat up – first at Wawa for some cash and then over to Starbuck’s where I ran in for my ride fuel and a gift card for Taylor’s friend.

Can you guess what drink I got at Starbuck’s? Venti White Chocolate Mocha with whip? Oh, you know me so well. But, no. That’s not it. I decided to mix things up a little bit, be daring, live on the edge. So I ordered a Venti Eggnog Latte with whip. Oh, yes I did. And you know what? It was delicious!

But that’s not really part of my story. The whole point about the car being so very cold is that as I was driving I saw this man driving an itty bitty, very old car and he had a very bushy beard. Very bushy. And I thought to myself, “Wow! I bet his face is warm!”

Um, yeah. That’s all to that little story. Not as funny on the screen as it was in my head.

Moving on.

Some of the most exciting news for us Phillies fans is that Cliff Lee has come back home to us, back where he belongs. It was heartbreaking when he was traded to the Mariners. I mean, he’s practically family, you know. No really. I’m sure I  bragged wrote about it before, but he’s from the same town in Arkansas we lived in. My parents know his grandfather. A lot of my friends there know Cliff and his family. Now that he’s coming back to Philadelphia it’s just a matter of time before we’re invited to sit in the owner’s box and swing with the big hitters. (Pun may have been intended. I’m not sure.)

Back to the ride, though. As I was driving through Reading (as in Monopoly’s ”Reading Railroad”, pronounced “redding” which makes no sense to me – but I digress) there was one of those big, LED billboards with Cliff Lee and the phrase, “Welcome Back, Mr. Lee”. It gave me the same kind of warm fuzzies I get when I see pretty Christmas ornaments. It could have been the enormous glittery red sign that looked a little like a Christmas ornament. Or it could have been the thrill of seeing him in his Phillies uniform. Or maybe a little of both.

So I continued to drive and sing and sing and drive. I took the turnpike through Lancaster and other pastoral settings and saw a lot of poor cows standing in the falling snow. They looked cold.  I also drove through tunnels under three mountains and passed a beautiful old farm with wooly sheep standing in the falling snow. They looked warm.

I kept driving and singing and singing and driving.

When it started snowing it was a light, powdery snow and I didn’t even have to use my wipers. But the farther west I drove the wetter the snow became. Do you know what happens when you use your windshield wipers in 20 degree weather with wet snow? It’s not pretty. But not to worry. We have the heated windshield fluid for that very reason. But it wasn’t working and I finally had to pull off for gas and to do something about the windshield.  [This is the part we need to keep from Todd, okay? So don't tell him.] I figured the fluid was empty so I bought some at the gas station, but when I went to fill the tank it was already full. **insert questioning “hm” and head scratching** So then I thought maybe the wiper fluid washer thingy was broken which was a lame thought because it was getting kind of hard to see through. After closely examining the wiper lever in the car I discovered I’d been pushing the wrong button. Turns out the heated wiper fluid works really well!

I finally made it to Breezewood and hung out in a travel center, aka fancy gas station, for about an hour until Taylor and Mary made it to Breezewood. I didn’t mind, but I do wish I could have kept singing. I suppose I COULD have kept singing, but it would have quickly gone from being just fun in the privacy of my own car to really weird. It would be like one of those flash mobs without the mob. Just me. In a gas station. And with my luck it would have ended up on YouTube and then all over Facebook and it would go viral and, well, yeah. Embarrassing to the nth power.

The ride home was just as good as the ride there, but for a different reason. I had Taylor all to myself for over three hours! There was nowhere he could go. Mwahahahahahahahaha….

Thankfulness – Day Fourteen

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I really need to start writing my “thankful” posts earlier in the day. I wait until after 9:00 and by then my brain is mush. Of course, if I try to write it too early my brain is foggy mush. My optimum brain time is probably from around 11:00 am to about 1:00 pm. That’s a really small window!

Thankfully (pun intended), today is really easy. I’m thankful for beautiful weather. Today was simply gorgeous. Blue skies, mid-sixties, mild breeze. It was what I consider to be the perfect day.

I think I’ll now end the perfect day (weatherly speaking) by climbing into my deliciously comfortable bed and resting my eyes for an hour or eight.

An Island Called Long*

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*Thank you to Dan R. for the title

This past weekend Todd and I took off for a much needed get away on Long Island. It was the first time we’ve ever left the kids home alone and I feel it was a success because: a) they didn’t kill or even maim each other; b) police and/or other emergency personnel services were never required; c) there were no arrests; d) the dog was still here and didn’t appear to have suffered any; and e) the house looked much the same as it did when we left.

Our adventure started on Thursday, and I don’t use the term “adventure” loosely. I’ve been to New York City several times since moving here four years ago and every time I’m there I declare I will NEVER drive in Manhattan. Well, guess what I did Thursday. I drove in Manhattan. From the Holland Tunnel, through Tribeca and China Town, and over the Williamsburg Bridge. I’ve driven in Los Angeles. I’ve driven in Dallas. I’ve driven in Philadelphia. Picnics, all, compared to the Big Apple. I would like to declare I will never drive in Manhattan EVER AGAIN. I just hope I really mean it this time.

Do you know what made driving in NYC worth it? After Todd and I got settled in the hotel we went down the street to TGIFriday’s for an early dinner and I got carded! Oh yes I did! Todd even took a picture of the waiter looking at my ID, but it came out all fuzzy. So what if they have to card anyone who looks like they may possibly be younger than 75? There’s just something about hearing those words, “May I please see some ID?” that thrills.

I kept telling people we were going to the Hamptons because it just sounds so chic. In reality we were just going to Long Island, but we did drive through the Hamptons on Friday. There is a two lane road that runs through the Hamptons to the tip of the South Fork where the Montauk lighthouse is. It took us a good two hours to go the 43 miles. I can say in all honesty that it was a beautiful drive and the weather couldn’t have been any better. We stopped in the town of Montauk for a bite of lunch – the best fish and chips I’ve ever had, hands down.


And a good thing, too. For two orders of fish and chips, an iced tea and a beer we paid $55.00. While I’m sure the fish basically jumped from the ocean and into the fryer, I’m not sure that’s a reasonable amount. Not only that, but I didn’t even get carded!

After the gigging we took lunch we finished the drive to Montauk Point and the oldest lighthouse in the state of New York. I, of course, had Precious with me so there are pictures:




There were no sightings, and, therefore, no pictures, of a Montauk Monster. (Sorry Becky) But here’s a photo I found on the internet to appease the curiousity of those who don’t know what the Montauk Monster is.

From there we drove to Sag Harbor:









And then a pretty drive back to the hotel where we feasted on cheese and crackers (because we had spent our daily allowance on fish and chips) and watched free HBO.

Saturday was another gorgeous day and this time we drove up the North Fork to Orient Point and then slowly worked our way back. In a welcomed change from Friday, the traffic was minimal. Our goal had been to find lighthouses and maybe go through a winery. We saw one lighthouse in the distance and never decided on a winery to tour. But we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves nonetheless.

I know. I’ll just show you some pictures.

We stopped in at this lavender farm and bought…



…lavender! Ahhhh, heaven!

Here we were in wine country and did we get any wine? No. I’m sure our wine clubbies (Or is that clubbists? Clubbers?) will be very disappointed with us.


The same Dan R. who inadvertently gave me the title of this post texted me and told me about Greenport. Happy I am that he did!



This, my friends, is a camera. Not nearly as convenient as Precious, that’s for sure.


The Frisky Oyster. What does a frisky oyster look like, I wonder.



We were going to eat in Greenport, but the wait was horrendous. Apparently everybody wanted to hang out in the quaint village on a perfect Saturday afternoon. So we got back in the car and just decided we’d stop wherever we stopped.

Linen tablecloths, a beautiful view, a delicious seafood meal, a decadent dessert – all for less than fish and chips in the Hamptons.

As we made our way back to the hotel we found a place to sit and be mesmerized by the beautiful ocean -

- and we also found LOVE, which is kind of the point of a weekend getaway, isn’t it?

Presidents’ Day And Other Happenings

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Happy Presidents’ Day – especially those of you who get the day off of school or work. Personally I’d rather be celebrating spring. A warm, but not hot, sunny day with the windows open and the smell of fragrant flowers wafting through a very clean and dust free house (it’s my fantasy, isn’t it?). While I’m at it, on this very lovely day I would like to be boxing up clothes that are now much to large for me and putting away my new, significantly smaller clothes that fit just right and proclaim a chic, yet casual sense of style…

Wow. That was a great happy place. I’ll have to remember to go there more often!

There is still snow everywhere. Mostly still pretty snow, except for on the sides of the roads. A good deal of that snow is rather dirty. And the snow on our deck? Sookie has an issue with getting off the deck with all the snow in the yard so she’s been using the snow on the deck AS HER RESTROOM! “Don’t eat yellow snow” has taken on a whole new meaning. Not to mention the poopcicles out there. Just… yuck. The silver lining? I’ll get back to you.

And guess what! They’re calling for more snow tonight and tomorrow night. At one time some meteorologists were saying we could get another 10 inches. Thankfully that thought is now passe and they’re talking about 2 to 4 inches where we live. The silver lining? Because it’s supposed to snow tonight and into the morning hours I think school is going to be delayed by 2 hours. Not such a bad thing considering we’ve all had the last six mornings to sleep in late. We could use a 2 hour delay to ease into getting up early again.

While I’m on a roll here, I think I’ll just keep up the slightly negative tone of this post.

Todd and I are sick. Late Friday afternoon he started complaining about stomach cramps and I just figured he was being some kind of a baby (because I lack compassion. It’s true.) Friday night, however, as Katie and I were watching The Princess Bride (as opposed to the opening ceremonies – don’t judge me. I’m still a proud American) my tummy started doing the same thing. Sure enough. We both ended up with some weird kind of stomach bug. There has been no throwing up, but a lot of wishing there was some throwing up just to feel better. And there’s been quite a bit of, um, “running” to the bathroom, if you catch my drift. I was actually going to go into work this morning, but my stomach still hurts and I can’t eat much of anything without feeling horrible. Weird. The silver lining? I’m starting my weight loss program today! And heaven forbid the kids get it and miss school – from my fingers to God’s eyes.

My sister, Terri, lives in Fort Worth. They, too, had snow. Quite a bit for that region, in fact. She had a great time playing in the snow with her grandson, Anthony. They had snowball fights and built a snowman. Lots of fun for an awesome grandma. But she slipped and fell Friday night on her driveway, breaking her leg at the ankle and requiring an ambulance ride to the hospital. They set it and put a splint on it, but when the swelling goes down she’ll require surgery. The silver lining? They prescribed her some killer goofers!

I’ve been reading An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon for the last couple of months. It’s a little over 800 pages and I’m having a fairly difficult time with it. If you don’t know anything about this book I’ll tell you. It’s book number 7 in the Outlander series. The first several books of the series are amazingly good and the real talent DG has is for building such complex characters that you end up feeling as though they’re good friends. So you keep reading the series, even though the books start getting a little bogged down. I’m finding this current read a little bit like a treasure hunt. There’s a lot of sand to dig though, but I keep coming up with little, or big, gems so it makes the work worth it. Living near Philadelphia with all it’s Revolutionary War history makes it interesting, too, because that’s what’s going on in the book. So I’m enjoying it, and yet I’m not. I just want to read the good parts and move on to a much smaller, much more shallow and insipid, much easier book to read! But I can’t until I’ve finished this one. So maybe I should get off the computer and read some more.

Oh wait! I forgot I was supposed to post more pictures of the blizzard. So without further ado, I give you THE GREAT BLIZZARD OF 2010








And how about these pictures of “Meerkat Brady”, taken by Laura. He was looking for his girlfriend through the snow, but couldn’t see over the drifts!


A Day in the Life of a Snowed In Family

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We may not have been in a real blizzard Saturday, but we are today. It’s absolutely beautiful outside – operative word being “outside”. As in I’m inside and warm and comfy and I don’t have to go outside at all today so I’ll enjoy the view.

While at wine club Friday night we were talking about “The French Toast People”. You know, the people who run to the store and buy up the eggs, milk and bread before a big storm hits. Which sounded really good to all of us. Sadly, I only had wheat bread and you just can’t make good french toast with wheat bread. Ewww. It doesn’t even bear thinking on. Monday I had to go to the store and I decided to grab a package of big, fluffy Texas toast bread for this morning. Oh. My. Goodness. It was the best French toast I’ve ever had. Ever. In my whole entire life. Sorry Mom. Your French toast was always yummy, but this was a new recipe I found with the teensiest bit of flour and it was simply exquisite. The sliced bananas, powdered sugar and whipped cream on top didn’t hurt anything either.

Sookie was happily romping on the snow covered deck while Katie and I enjoyed our delicious breakfast. If I hadn’t been so enamoured with my nummies I would have tried to get some cute pictures. She was trying to catch the snow as it fell, diving into the drifts and having a grand time when all of a sudden she started her vicious there’s-a-very-threatening-monster-in-my-yard bark. Her hackles were raised – and the girl has huge hackles – and a very large chocolate lab ran up on our deck. Sookie yelped and growled and barked and jumped off the deck with the lab right on her heals and me yelling at her to get in the house. If you’re standing at the door you can’t see down to the bottom of the deck steps so I had no idea what was going on down there. I was in my slippers and as I was debating whether or not I should tromp through a couple feet of piled snow Sookie came hauling up the stairs (she’s uber fast) and ran in the house. I just managed to get the sliding glass door closed before the lab practically slammed into it. Sookie was quite agitated, barking, whining, whining, barking and the owner of the lab finally managed to get her off our deck and back home. It was much too much excitement for what was supposed to be a totally lazy day!

Todd and Taylor watched a Bruce Lee, Jet Li or some such martial arts movie in the basement while Katie and I watched Meet Me In St. Louis and I got caught up on some work work. It was delightful. Of course, we couldn’t start the movie until Sookie finally calmed down which seemed to take a good 30 minutes or so.

And dinner tonight? Cheesy Corn Chowder and sourdough bread. That stuff is plum larapin! OH! That reminds me, I need to get the stew meat out of the freezer for tomorrow’s dinner. Because nothing says “Yea! It’s another snow day!” like a rich, meaty stew. And guess what I’m making for breakfast in the morning. Yup! French toast. I can hardly wait!

That’s right. It snowed for nearly 30 hours straight and we got a good 20 inches on top of what we already had from Saturday. The school called this evening and said one more snow day which makes for a very long weekend because the kids were already off for Friday and Monday.

Finally, I told my mom I’d be posting pictures of this new snow today. As you can see there are no pictures. Hopefully I’ll be able to post some tomorrow, though I think it’s going to take all four of us to make even a dent with the necessary shoveling. Maybe they can shovel and I’ll be the photodocumentarian. Brilliant!