The Great (Not So) White North

We pressed Northward to John's parents' house near York, PA on New Years' Eve. We had high hopes as the temperature dropped and the chance for snow showers increased. NUTTIN!

We were eager to finally get up to spend a belated Christmas with his parents Jim and Lucy and his sister Jane, and her two boys Connor and Cooper. They were most patient in waiting for our arrival after our early-holiday tour of southern GA. On New Years Eve we enjoyed a fabulous home-cooked meal. John and I stayed up and watched the New Years revellers and an aging but nonetheless enthusiastic Dick Clark to ring in the New Year. Laika asked us to tape it for her.

On Tuesday we got up and had a fun gift exchange - I love Christmas at the Dandelskis because - among other good things - they are primo gift wrappers. Everything is wrapped which makes it last longer and more fun...and his sister in particular is the only person I know who wraps with tuxedo pleats - so fancy. We got some lovely goodies including a panini grill (I am going to research/invent making a pot pie sandwich for John who loves pot pies) and John got drumsticks with sound...he's such a kid which is why he looks younger than me :). We spent the rest of the day relaxing and I even took a nap with Tilley (again, much like Christmas day at our house). We watched The Queen and I enjoyed again seeing the many scenes with CORGIS CORGIS CORGIS particularly having been Her Likeness for Halloween :).

Wednesday was time for me to take the bull by the horns. I was skeptical about getting a run in, given that the road they live near is pretty narrow and busy. But I was wrong! Turns out, there's a road off to the other side that leads to town that's much less traveled (and apparently was unpaved until fairly recently). Optimistically, I checked the temperature. BRR!!! It was like 31, with WINDS GUSTING AT 31!

Know what I did? I went anyway :) Tilley and I stayed in the neighborhood to start, then ventured down the road towards town for a bit and came upon a lovely classically PA barn, complete with the stone foundation and cantilevered wooden frame - very pretty. We got in a nice 4 mile run, which was a hell of a lot better than the 0 miles I had planned. Hurrah!

Later that day we went to the local pharmacy for some home cookin' - it's a great classic pharmacy with milkshakes, meatloaf, and medicine, all in one stop :). I then headed back to the house for some work; I had a lot of prep to do for an upcoming client workship in DC, as well as some work to do on the first-of-the-month billing and such. So I had a few productive hours before dinner - then settled in after a round of the famous Dandelksi steamed pudding that Jane made (the best yet!) with folks in the den with my machine to finish a 10-tab functional requirements matrix and some employee review form templates when....BAM! No internet. G'nite!

The next morning I rose and went to Panera to wrap up work for a bit before NYC. We all went to a really nice lunch at the Foundry before packing up and heading out for the evening drive into the gritty city...