I Like Thursday #99

It's been a while since I last posted. We've been having a wonderful Christmas holiday with family. Our daughter and two kitties arrived on the 18th. My brother, his wife, twin daughters, one dog, and one cat arrived the 22nd. My nephew flew in on the 23rd and his girlfriend on the 26th. Daughter and kitties left yesterday, my brother's family and critters left this morning, the nephew and girlfriend will catch their flight this afternoon. Pshew! I believe we're finally going to get back to normal or as normal as we get!

Obviously my first "like" is being able to share the holidays with family, no matter how helter skelter it was at times.

One of the twins and my mom (her grandmother)

My niece, mother, nephew, and daughter

My brother, his wife, his twin daughters & Mac

My brother's three kids

I also liked how the animals got along. Not saying they were necessarily friends but at least they respected each other's space.

My brother and SIL being monitored by my Polly

Polly loves wrapping paper & boxes

Penny keeping a close eye on Polly

Gracie got a How-Do-You-Do present from Mac

My kind neighbor bought an amaryllis for me again this year. I chose a red one with hints of orange. It looks like this. Isn't it pretty?

Last year's amaryllis was a bright red, more traditional color. I kept the bulb outside over the summer and put it in the basement in the late fall. I'd forgotten to do that before I went on vacation but figured better late than never. It started to sprout mid-December, looking like this.

Today it looks like this. Pretty sure I'll get a small flower at the very least!

After the holidays I like to get out a jigsaw puzzle. It's a relaxing thing to do that I enjoy very much. Gives me time to reflect on the past holiday and all the commotion it brings. 1000 piece puzzles fit perfectly on my dining room table without pulling out the leaves.

I finished the book "Pachinko" a while ago. I really enjoyed the first 2/3. The next bit seemed more like the author was writing from her outline. The ending was very good and appropriate though. I loved reading about the Japanese and Korean cultures and I  recommend this book but BEWARE! Her use of the F-word is not something that I care for. However, I gave her a pass for learning the English language and maybe not from a certified teacher. Not sure I explained that quite right. Sorry.

My current read is "Sworn to Silence" by Linda Castillo. You may recall that I read "Fallen" by the same author and really enjoyed it. Turns out Kate Burkholder, the main character, has been in lots of Linda Castillo's books. "Sworn to Silence" is the first in the series so I thought I'd double back and read it now. So far it's good but I'm only about 100 pages in.

As most of you know, I love my morning walks with Gracie. My daughter joined us most days while she was  visiting. Even better! However, were you aware that we experienced some VERY COLD weather over the holidays? It was so cold and windy that some days we were -40 degrees wind chill! No walks for Gracie on those days but we did go when it was a bit warmer, like only -12 degrees! Ha! Anyway, I asked Sarah was her hair wet when we left or did she brush against wet paint or something? Here's her picture -- look at the hairs on the edges of her face. Turns out it's ice from her breath!!

And guess what, Mom? You do too! Mine's not all gray!

Even Gracie sported snow on her snoot and icicles in her chinny-chin-chin hairs!

Oh my! We had such a good time on our walk!

I think that's it from here. My I Like Post is caught up. You can always see more fun observations and get good tips by visiting the other bloggers sharing their likes HERE.

Have a safe New Year's holiday!