An Afternoon with Mom

After placing a big crockpot of chili on the counter to cook while I was away, I got in the car and drove down to have Sunday dinner with Mom at Millstream Commons, her new "home away from home". The trip down was a typical January day in Minnesota - vast, white fields of snow, a temperature hovering around 2 degrees, sunny and clear blue skies. My sister Sue had stopped over before I arrived and given Mom a shower and done some leg exercises with her, so Mom was in pretty good form. We had a nice dinner together and then watched the Vikings whup (past tense of whip) the New York Giants pretty decisively. Mom is quite a Vikings fan and usually stays awake during the game. Today, with such a large lead, she could afford to take a nap and everything would come out allright. Wouldn't it be great if the Vikings could get into the Super Bowl? We'd have to buy Mom a Vikings sweatshirt, for sure.

It's been nice to have four days off and sleep in during these cold mornings. We keep the night time thermostat at 58 degrees, which increases to 68 at 6:30 a.m. So, when I get up to dress for work at 6:30 it's a bit brisk! We sleep under a down quilt, which is heavenly - sort of like being in a nice warm cave. I talked to Bob's Mom in Florida and she's complaining about 32 degrees - for her, that's really cold (and bad for the citrus industry). I wonder if the Minnesota transplants in Florida, Arizona and Texas miss the change in seasons and snow on the ground? The ice that we see on our street is like a washboard - so, I don't think I'd miss it too much.