A Quick Update from the Frozen North

Hello to all who too have just survived a Polar Votex! A quick little newsy update from the, still frozen, North.

Picture from last year. She could have gotten frostbite in under 5 minutes if we attempt this photo this week THAT'S HOW COLD IT WAS.

1

For a girl used to natural disasters involving sirens the and the risk of sudden death, the winter version of weather emergency is a little...underwhelming? It's a very slow moving emergency! Winter weather doesn't touch everyone with equal danger in the way that a tornado can. More resources = better outcomes in this situation.

As we stayed home and cooked creatively out of the pantry, I tried to reiterate to my kids how having a warm house, working furnace, food in the pantry, isn't a given for everyone.

2

The kids also learned that snow days don't mean much when you're homeschooled - especially when it's too cold to play outside.

We did start reading Hilda van Stockum's Canadian Summer as our read aloud, and it really does help to read about the height of summer in the depths of winter.

3

The extreme cold resulted in just about every being cancelled/closed this week. And I mean everything. The bars were even closed on Wednesday, so no St. Brigid ceili dancing for us.

Losing the entire week of rehearsals two weeks before opening is less than ideal. We were supposed to start dress runs this week, but now we haven't tried final costumes, haven't seen the set, haven't done promo photos, and the phones have been down for ticket sales all week.

Some help from St. Genesius would be good right about now.

The cast have been meeting when we can for "line throughs" - which is basically doing a rehearsal sitting down and running lines over and over again. Some might meet over the weekend, but I won't be there because....

4

I'm going on retreat this weekend!

It's my first retreat in over a decade, and I'm looking forward to it. If you'll be at St. John's Abbey in Minnesota this weekend, say hi! 

5

In the spirit of embracing our new state, and getting out of my comfort zone, the two older kids and I started ice skating lessons! I've decided the only overlap in skill set between ballet and ice skating is core control and leg muscles. That's it. 

I have yet to figure out how to balance weight in skates that don't make my feet ache like mad 15 minutes into the lesson. So if you know a trick, send it my way.

6

Can we just talk about how exciting it is to be DONE WITH JANUARY?!

Seriously, this was the longest January of my life.

I have more announcements about changes coming for Spring, that I can hopefully tell you about soon. (I'm the worst at keeping good news secret.)

7

February 1st is St. Brigid's Day! So have a good Irish beer (or at the very least, an amber ale) today. Ya know, for #liturgicalliving.

Linking up with This Ain't the Lyceum for 7 Quick Takes!