Almost Christmas: January 2023

Thursday, January 19, 2023

Happy 2023! (Minutes after midnight NYE)

Happy 2023! Homemade eggnog, champagne, and celebratory cigars on the deck. Oh! And we finished the puzzle.

Christmas blooms (December 2022)

Beautiful Christmas cactus! Took some sisters sleuthing to figure out it was from Martin Claus. Thanks, Martin!

Dad's hibiscus is spending the winter inside under grow lights. Rewarded with this one-day bloom on Christmas Day. Thanks, Dad!

Wish we could have been there! (Christmas Eve, New Orleans)

Craig and Martha drove in from Shreveport with Michael Craig and Mia, who'd flown in from New York City. Donna, Destry, Caroline, and Colton met up with them. Mia, we'll meet you someday!

Still puzzling (December 28, 2022)

It takes four people and a kitchen island

Update: as of January 19, we still haven't figured out all 101 films. But we're going to give ourselves more time before looking up answers online.

Turning water off and on for Winter Storm Eliot (December 22-27, 2022, or so)

I am now familiar with the water meter off/on at the street. Being on pier and beam, our pipes under the house are too exposed for us to leave the water on when temps drop to around 14 degrees (with wind chill temp of 1 degree!), as they did Friday, December 23, during Winter Storm Eliot. When the arrow points toward the house, the water is off.

All I needed on Christmas Day, when Papa Tom was at work, was a crescent wrench and some kitty cat helpers to turn the water back on temporarily while temps were above freezing. When the arrow pointed to the street, I could hear water rushing through the pipes. Yea!

Puzzle time continues in Austin (Christmas Eve 2022)

We're hooked on 1,000-piece puzzles.

This one has 101 visual clues for films.

Can you guess which movie this image references? Or the ram could have had a bandana bow on its head.

Wednesday, January 18, 2023

Magic moments in Asheville (December 12-17, 2022)

Mya made brownies decorated with crushed peppermint candy to take to her Spanish class on the last day of school before winter break. They were yummy!

Piper and Brandy modeling their matching ugly Christmas sweaters. Hey, they called them "ugly" before I did.

Family birthday party. The birthday girl is married to Brandy's cousin.

Jessica's birthday party at Cowboys Mexican Grill. The Spanish-speaking waitress graciously let Mya and me practice our Spanish with her when we ordered.

Ryder, Brandy, and me

Mya paints her drawing. Check it out on Instagram at myasageart.com.

Piper and Papa playing one last game of Battle before we leave for the airport.

Puzzles (Asheville December 12-17, 2022)

Teamwork! We finished the puzzle December 16, the day before Papa and I would head back to Austin. Team member Mya took the photo.

"The Mystic Maze" by the Magic Puzzle Company had1,000 pieces and two posters showing us how the finished puzzle would look.

All done except for the piece Willoughby ate and one more missing piece. Now to open the mystery envelope.

Weird! Instructions in the mystery envelope directed us to slide parts of the puzzle to this new configuration.

The expanded puzzle, after sliding parts around to create the opening for the new pieces. Weird!

The pieces in the mystery envelope made this shape.

We worked Piper's garage sale puzzle. It was hard!

Asheville from the Grove Park Inn (December 14, 2022)

Asheville skyline from the Grove Park Inn, on a foggy December night.

Mya and River in the mock sleigh.

Grove Park Inn gingerbread houses plus (Asheville, December 14, 2022)

With the fortune made from his tasteless tonic, Edwin Wiley Grove built the Grove Park Inn and more. Grove's Tasteless Chill Tonic, which was first sold in 1885, was a fever-remedy made from quinine suspended in a flavored syrup to eliminate the bitter taste. Cured your fever and made you fat. Today he'd have to claim it makes you skinny.

Papa and me behind a Dio de los Muertos gingerbread house. The shingles are made from cereal, I think.

Brandy and Ryder behind the Under the Sea gingerbread/other edible things (but not fish) creation.

Brandy, Piper, and Ryder at one of the Grove Park Inn trees.

One gingerbread creator put Tom on the Naughty list, all by himself. How did she know?

The creator of this gingerbread typewriter and put Piper at the top of the naughty list! Nobody else in the family except for Papa Tom appeared on any naughty lists. But no nice lists either.

Piper in front of the gingerbread typewriter.

Human-sized gingerbread coffee shop in the Grove Park Inn lobby. The 25-day, 500-hour build took, in part, 400 pounds of powdered sugar, 160 pounds of flour, 6 pounds of ginger, 94 pounds of eggs/egg whites, and 60 pounds of assorted candy.

Gingerbread houses at the Grove Park Inn, Asheville (December 14, 2022)

The Grove Park Inn Gingerbread House competition entry form and 10 pages of rules specify, in part: Everything above the base of your entry must be composed completely of edible materials. Competitors are permitted to use up to 40% mechanically produced components in their entry. Examples include: machine designed, 3D printed and laser cut components. 60% of each entry must be handcrafted. The main structure of your entry must be constructed of at least 75% gingerbread, some of which should be exposed. First place went to Santa with Peter Pan, Wendy, and the kids. Oh! And Captain Hook.

All edible except for the base. But too beautiful to eat!

How do these not fall over? How do you transport them? What happens to them after the 12-day show?

The crowd favorite was a gingerbread tank/Statue of Liberty/etc. that incorporated a gingerbread version of the Grove Park Inn on one side. Compare the gingerbread version to the photo I took. I think the stone wall was made with rock candy?