January Jaunts

It seems I say this at the end of every month, but this month has flown by.  It started out with me being insanely busy at work, preparing for a 350-person event I was managing.  Once that was over, I headed to the homeland to visit my mother, who had knee-replacement surgery on January 3rd.  I spent some time with her in rehab and even sprung her out for a trip to the movies.  The weather that weekend was unseasonably warm, so I think the fresh air did her good.  Both of my drives across Massachusetts were shrouded in fog, except for when I was above it when driving through the Green Mountains of Vermont.  It was beautiful, looking down on the valleys and misty mountains and I tried to take some pictures from behind the wheel.

My father and Nan came to visit at the beginning of the next week so that they could see our house and so Nan could do some research at the Harvard libraries.  We had a nice visit with them, but the warm temperatures that we enjoyed over the weekend ended abruptly on Wednesday with a snow storm.  I was upset because I had wanted to go for a run with them along the river, like in the old days.  Instead they ended up leaving on Tuesday night before the snow started falling.  Luckily, we were able to enjoy a burger at Bartley's with my dad before their trip was cut short.

We enjoyed some more warm weather the next weekend, allowing Spike and me to walk the lake in Wakefield on both Saturday and Sunday.  I'm not sure I've mentioned the lake before.  I'm referring to Lake Quannapowitt, or Lake Q, in Wakefield Center, which is almost exactly a 5K around and is enjoyed by tons of runners and walkers in the area.  I run around it when the weather allows, which is six miles round trip from our house and reminds me of my runs around the river.  There's a Farmer's Market on its shores in the warmer months, kayak rentals in the summer, and ice skating in the winter.  They even shoot fireworks off a barge from the center of it for the 4th of July.  It's a beautiful lake and one of the many reasons we love our new town. 

Anyway, after the nice warmup and snow melt over the weekend, we were hit by the coldest of the cold temperatures all last week.  We're talking single digits.  It was insane!  We headed to the homeland again on Friday to make sure my mother was doing okay and to get her out of the house.  We had a great time playing Wii with David, eating at the Man of Kent, and, of course, going to the movies.  The temperatures were just as cold there, but winter is so much prettier in the homeland.

So now February is tomorrow and it was 60 degrees this morning.  The winds are whipping and the rain is pouring down.  This month's weather has been so wacky and up and down, but I'm happy that winter hasn't been too bad so far and that it seems that spring is on the way... for now!