Good Saturday, Saw Snow

It snowed all day! Accumulation? Zero. My poor niece (9) who lives two hours south of us in southern Virginia apparently stood out in it for a little while and then longingly watched Weather Channel images of New England and other states where snowbanks abound. I think one of these years I'd like to spend a winter in Minnesota or northern Vermont or somewhere with a hardcore winter. New Jersey was always good for deep snow and cold in winter, but I haven't had enough. Maybe I'd like to be in this chilly state for fall, too. Virginia, though, has a lovely spring. It pops flowers and buds like nobody's business starting in March.

Well, I'd hoped for some alone moments today but didn't really get any. I would have--M. was going to take Nick with him to dispose of a trailer load of raked leaves--but M.'s uncle came to visit instead. He was there right through Kari's nap. That's OK, I'm having my time now. Nick went to bed so nicely tonight that I had a rather lengthy evening to catch up on blogs. M. didn't think he had a movie in him tonight, and me either, actually. We have Strictly Ballroom to watch and we just mailed back Ratatouille. I fell asleep in the middle of Ratatouille. I have to be really, really tired to do that. And also, I found it a little boring. So M. told me the ending and that was enough for me.

I had a bag of dried navy beans that I had to use up so I made soup tonight. (I know I've had these beans for almost a year because we bought them when Kari was first born last March and we thought we would freeze them and use them to alleviate any breast engorgement I might have had. Well, that never happened, so why not make soup?!) So I quick-soaked the beans and put them in a pot with chicken broth and water, bay leaves, onion and garlic. I simmered that for awhile. Then added diced potato, sliced carrots, tiny cubed cooked ham, kale, S&P, I think was it. We ate it with crusty bread and a glass of red wine. Awesome winter dinner. And the soup was Core, too.