Gloom & Boom

I enjoy clouds. I like big fluffy clouds that slowly meander across a blue sky like sheep grazing in a meadow. I like big black dramatic clouds that race across the sky on a stormy day. But clouds that are a blank gray, as if someone has taken a crayon and colored the sky gray, get a little tiresome. Every day for the last week or so, the skies have been very gray and gloomy. It feels like someone dimmed the sun and we are living in a twilight world.

We had an unexpected delight on New Year’s Eve. We were spending our evening as we usually do on New Year’s Eve when we suddenly heard booms. Our neighbor across the road put on an awesome fireworks display. We thought it was just as good as any that a city puts on during the 4th of July. We watched it from the comfort of our living room. It lasted for about an hour, with a few pauses now and then.

This is the second time in the last month that our neighbor has set off fireworks. It was especially enjoyable because we haven’t seen any fireworks for probably ten years, although we’ve heard them booming all around us on July 4th and other days. We live in a high tourist area that has a lot of festivals so towns, resorts, and campgrounds shoot off fireworks quite frequently during the summer. I would have thought that living on a hill, we’d have a spectacular view of fireworks. However, there are tree-covered hills all around us and they block out the horizon. We don’t really feel like joining huge crowds of tourists and lots of traffic to drive to see fireworks displays during holidays or festivals. At home, we only can see the very tips of fireworks that go high enough into the sky. So our neighbor’s awesome fireworks were a joy to watch. Here is a 2-minute video I took of it. I thought it was really cool the way the fireworks lit up the bare winter trees. I shushed EJ once in the video because he doesn’t like to talk when I am videoing.

The day before New Year’s Eve, I made six potpies from leftover turkey that I had frozen after Thanksgivig. EJ cooked a turkey on New Year’s Day and I made more potpies–six potpies on Monday and eight on Tuesday. I freeze them uncooked. It’s nice to be able to grab a potpie from the freezer and bake it on days when we are too tired, busy, or uninspired to cook.

After all that work making potpies, I’m taking a break today.