During the last regular season game, Lona was tackled while kicking the ball.  In all the years of playing soccer, this has never been a problem.  Usually, she pretty much bounces right back up but this was different. the referee immediately called for the coach and after being carried off the field, she watched the rest of the game and all the play off games from the bench. Her MRI showed a partial tear of the MCL and a full tear of the ACL.  Surgery was required but not until more of the swelling has gone down.  It took a month.  Then she needed to heal and create some scar tissue on the MCL so enters January.  A scheduled ACL repair, quick in and out procedure.  Just harvest a portion of the hamstring and pin it into the place where the ACL was located.  A little scar and a couple of entry ports.  No big deal but they discovered that she also tore her meniscus.  It needed to be trimmed and also stitched which took a bit longer.  Her first surgery and it was major and nice little scar to match mine. We brought her home and she laid on the couch for about a week.  The big thing is now physical therapy.

January and it's snowing. Not just a little bit but a lot. Well a lot for this area. I started shoveling snow and shoveled every three or four hours so that I could get to work in the morning. By 8 pm I gave up and called in saying that there was no way I could get there by 3:30. They pushed the opening time to  6 am so that two of us could get to work. In all the years that I have lived here this was the first time that I had to think about work and snow.  It was a new experience.  John on the other hand was able to work from home for a couple of days and so we took advantage of the time after his work was done to cross country ski around the soccer fields and adjoining property. Part of this was for the dog because I think he enjoys the snow more than we do. 

I don't think I made peanut butter cookies until I was an adult and had almost adult children.  I don't really know why. I remember went I was a kid we usually had marshmallow treats.  I think I ate Rice Krispies almost every morning for breakfast.  I remember when we did make cookies, it was usually chocolate chip cookies.  I loved them but hated making them.  stirring the dough with a wooden spoon was so much work.  I have no idea why we beat the butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla with a beater and then when we added flour we switched to a wooden spoon.  It seemed so hard and took forever. Licking the beaters was a treat in itself and we never thought about food poisoning from the eggs.  It was just part of making cookies.  Fast forward to me being a mom and one day I decided to just beat the flour into the sugar, egg and vanilla mix and my cookie life changed.  I never again used a wooden spoon to mix in the flour.  Then I discovered peanut butter cookies.  Oh so easy. I was given a couple of cookbooks a very long time ago that would be overlooked these days. The first one is a Betty Crocker Cookbook. The cover, if I had it was orange and in the introductory page it has this phrase: "Someone brought you a brace of pheasants, " I don't think anyone has ever brought me a brace of pheasants. The photos are from 1950 or 1960 or so the photos suggest.  Food photography has been around a long time.  It's just gotten better or maybe our sense of style has evolved.  The other cookbook is a 3 ring Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook in red and white gingham print. It's in this cookbook that I've found the peanut butter cookie recipe.  Again we can guess the date of the edition by the photos in the book. Think Mrs Doubtfire hair styles.  There is even a paragraph about food photography in it.  It is in this second book that I found the recipe for the cookies.  Oh you can find all kinds of recipes on pinterest for them with all sorts of variations but I really like this one. Besides I think it is one of two recipes that I use from the book.  I do like the inside cover which has weights and measures, emergency substitutes, ingredient equivalents and broiling timing suggestions.

1/2 cup of butter
1/2 cup peanut butter (I like the crunchy kind)
1 1/4 cups  flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp vanilla
extra sugar for topping

preheat oven to 37
Beat together butter, peanut butter, sugars, egg and vanilla until creamy.  Sift flour, baking soda, and baking powder and add to creamed butter mixture, mix until incorporated.  Scoop it into balls and roll it in the extra sugar.  Place on cookie sheet and make the crosshatch by pressing with a fork.  Bake at 37 for 7 to 9 minutes.  Cool on a wire baking rack.  An alternative is to make smaller balls and press a hershey kiss in the middle of them.  Chocolate and peanut butter are always a match.  I am pretty sure these only last a day in our house unless I'm taking photos and threaten my family with their life.  But even then I have to be quick, they tend to disappear before I finish taking photos.

As soon as I step out of the car I hear that undeniable screech of the eagles.. My eyes start to scan the trees for the tell tale signs of white dots among the trees and along the river bank.  This year though I was late, much later than normal. A month later. I drove up with the hope that these bird would still be around and they were just not as many.  The bridge on Mosquito Lake Road had a few but just around the corner is a great spot near a little stream that feeds into the Nooksack.  I always enjoy the outing when I can photograph and mostly watch the eagles and their telltale screech.

I always knew this day would come. Christmas morning with a missing member.  Inevitable that they grow and fly, building their nest elsewhere. Mentally I was prepared. It wasn't a surprise and yet Christmas morning there was a piece missing. He was in Maine, (l'aute cote), the other coast. 3200 hundred miles away Since we had spent a week with him, moving him from Basic to his first station I hadn't prepared any presents to ship out. While we were touring the East Coast, Lona was at home, busy saving Christmas for us. She shopped, wrapped presents and decorated the house. I tried to keep some of our traditions. We read the bible, but this year we read the Lego edition complete with photos. It was very enlightening and I must say entertaining. And then we opened presents.  I have to say the whole time we were on the East Coast, I was missing Lona. Christmas morning I was missing Job. Christmas has changed for us and I understand that nostalgic longing for the way things used to be. However, life is about change and growth, so I'm embracing technology that allows me to stay intouch easier and instantaneous. To enjoy the time we have. To celebrate and have traditions such as cininamon croissant rolls and stocking stuffers and coffee and Bible readings, grounds me and allows me to embrace the change. So Merry Christmas and here, here to new normal holidays.

So we had until 4 pm before Job needed to check into the station and report for duty. That gave us time to check out a couple of light houses along the way.  There are over 60 along the coast of Maine.  We chose two to see.  Owls Head being on of them. Leaving Highway 1, we made our way along a back road to Owls Head and then out to lighthouse. We pulled into the empty parking lot. Mid December is not tourist season in Maine. We walked along the road, past the Coast Guard house and closed gift shop to the wood plank walk way to the light house. Once at the top we could see out to the Penobscot Bay and the the islands of Knox County.  This lighthouse is listed as being built in 1852 and is manned by the USCG under the Department of Homeland Security. Poor Job, I would have made him stand next to each sign and pose but the guy definitely had other ideas and refused. We returned to the car to warm up and continued onto our next destination of Rockland Breakwater Lighthouse.

We pulled into the parking lot and Isaac took one look and refused to get out of the car. What better way to get acclimated to Maine than by walking out to the Rockland Head lighthouse in Maine on a windy cold Maine day. He said “HELL NO, I’m NOT going out there. It’s going to be cold and miserable. I am NOT going.” And as an understanding and very loving mother I made him get his butt out the car and walk the 7/8 mile out to the lighthouse and back over ice crusted uneven slippery and jagged rocks with 25 mph winds at 10 degrees just so we could take some photos. But we saw some Coasties zipping by in one of their boats and I got the photos I wanted so that was a win in my book. The Coasties were probably dressed better than us. Truth be told, my lips were numb by the time we got back to the car. I think it took another hour to warm up with the heat on full blast. Finally we rolled into the small town of Southwest Harbor Maine. Checking into our Condo, we hauled bags and bags in. Job changed into his dress blues and we drove to the USCG station to drop him off.  And that is another story all together. 

This might have been the point where John turned to Isaac and whispered "It's f*ing cold." but that is hearsay since I didn't hear it.  They might be a tad bit miserable.

We checked into our condo, unloading all this guy's gear and there was plenty of it. Quickly we chose rooms and set up home base and then he put on his nice dress blues. He looks so sharp. I am so very proud of him. Then it was time. We piled into our rental to drive the five miles to the station.I couldn't help myself. I made him stand there while I took photos. We didn't know what to expect now. He grabbed his orders and turned around. Walking through the gate to make his first report. A milestone, a heartbreak, a proud moment.