Oh, the joys of winter!
A monster storm kept those who “were not there yet,” where they were for Christmas.
We celebrated Christmas with just the two of us. We enjoyed a special dinner, which we prepared together and ate together.
We saw the sun today! The day after Christmas, cold but sunny. I was afraid this storm might be like “The Day After,” but so far people are moving about and the temperature is tolerable, even to take the dog for her walks. Fortunately we did not have as much snow as they had at many other locations. As a matter of fact, we had rain before Christmas and above freezing temperatures, which allowed some of the snow of the previous blizzard to melt away.
Next year is now less than a week away! We are looking forward to a good time with our children and friends during our celebration of “old-and-new,” when we “pray in” the new year. All of which is coupled with traditions from both our old and new countries.
We are home again! The mid-west blizzard of December 8 & 9 went before us. We left Colorado Springs with sunshine and drove to Norton, Kansas. Here we spend time with good friends, a good meal, and a great night’s rest. Although there was an overcast sky for our trip on Saturday (12-12), we had an uneventful trip to Des Moines. Upon our arrival we visited with our daughter, who has been battling a persistent illness withe daily fevers. Corrie made soup for her and her husband on Sunday and we shared dinner together.
Some more snow on Monday, but we had enough food to wait with grocery shopping until Tuesday. We needed to stock up again; especially, with the Christmas and New-year’s holidays just around the corner.
That said, I wish all of you a Blessed Christmas celebration.
In my previous blog I eluded to the upcoming Madrigals, to be held in the Great Hall of the Gen Eyrie Castle. We have been diligently working on the backdrops, which are completed and in place. We started back in the beginning of November to build the boxes. We made five 4x8 boxes with sides of one-by-fours. Using “bendie-wood” we constructed three half circle arches; two 4 foot wide, one 8 foot wide. 
The inside was painted semigloss white to prepare for light reflection.
This week just a few days before the first Madrigal Dinner, the replica stained glass windows, laminated to plexi-glass, came in and we were able to complete the backdrops. For lighting we strung about 180 soft white LED Christmas lights per box. The effect, as you can see, looks like a stained glass window backlit by the sun.
We are all looking forward to serving at the Madrigal dinner and performance. The focus is to celebrate the truth of Christmas, while enjoying a classic Madrigal event, including wassail, boars head, accompanied by period music and dance.
Just visit the Glen Eyrie web-site for more information. I will be working as a food-server on three of the performances. Corrie and I will also will be able to observe the totality of the experience from above, off the balcony of the Great Hall, during one of our nights off.
Our time here is winding down. We plan to travel back to our home in Johnston, Iowa, at the middle of the month.
Next year is now less than a week away! We are looking forward to a good time with our children and friends during our celebration of “old-and-new,” when we “pray in” the new year. All of which is coupled with traditions from both our old and new countries.
