The Highs Have It!

Our daughter Jamie started a nice dinner-table go around a few years ago: Everyone shares a high and low of their day. It gives you a quick chance to reflect and share, whether you're part of the family or a visitor.

Now that we're halfway through the first month of 2014, I'd like to offer a photographic look at the "highs and lows" of my month so far.

HIGH: Started 2014 off right with the Burlington First Run 5K. Braved the cold temps
with my sister-in-law and running partner, Louise Thabault.

HIGH: George has spent hours on the Lakeside Skating Rink, and
sometimes he even gets to skate!

LOW: This was literally the low of the month, although I think it did go down to -12F.
Almost a week of below zero weather with wind chills that VT hasn't seen in 20 years.

HIGH: Breathtaking views of cumulus clouds on Lake Champlain
 -- forms when the water is warmer than the air.

LOW: Buckets of rain caused this little lake, which we
actually shoveled off, so the rink could re-freeze once the temp dropped.

LOW: Frost etched on the kitchen window like a street map of London.

HIGH: Instant gluten free bread crumbs to top GF mac & cheese.
Just crush Glutino pretzels (shake off excess salt first).

HIGH: Winter wheels in trendy Northampton Mass

HIGH: Balmy temps in Springfield MA the weekend of Jan. 11
when we visited my sister, Robin Withers, and her family.

HIGH: Parsnips! Deliciously sweet, and so easy to cook.  Just cover with water
in a shallow frying pan. Boil until the water is gone. Poof - they're done.

HIGH: Our neighbor took advantage of yesterday's
sunshine to hang out her sheets.

Just a disclaimer that I did not take photos of the following LOWS: waiting at Sears one Sunday morning to replace my dead Mazda battery, the times George and I fell on sidewalk ice, the hours spent scraping ice off multiple cars, or the afternoon spent helping Jamie install plastic over her drafty 7' tall windows. Oh yes, and the two credit cards we lost in less than two weeks. So technically the the Highs and Lows might be tied for now... let's see what the rest of the month brings!

The Zen of Basketball

You know how in the course of an ordinary day, you hear something that speaks volumes and instantly becomes your life motto? That's what happened to me in March 2010. And it came out of the mouth of an unsuspecting zen master - Evan Turner, a college basketball star from Ohio State. On Friday, March 12, which happened to be my husband George's 60th birthday, Evan made a spectacular 3-point basket to win their opening game in the NCAA March Madness college tournament. (I'm explaining this for my readers who aren't sports fans - you know who you are). You can watch his shot here. Evan Turner's 2010 miracle 3-pt shot

Turner's game-winner coincided with a tumultuous weekend in our lives. George had a raucous dance party on Saturday night at Club Metronome. Drew came home from Boston for the event. Our Colchester house was on the market and there was yet another showing scheduled for Sunday. We went out to brunch to vacate the place, and the TV in the restaurant/bar repeatedly replayed Turner's famous shot.  Lo and behold, on Monday we had a signed contract and a closing date of April 14. Another miracle, except that now we had less than a month to move!

After weeks of searching for a house or condo, and arguing about whether or not to rent or buy, I was at my wit's end. I was working mega hours in those days, and I just needed to know we had a place to live.  George was more blase, saying we could move in with relatives or friends. Yeah, right! By the time another Sunday came around, I gave up on the classifieds and emailing realtors and started praying for a solution.  I turned on the TV to ESPN -  the great escape of sports. Guess who was being interviewed? Evan Turner. When asked how he had made that impossible 37' shot, what he said changed my life: "Sometimes you have to be aggressive and go after the game, and sometimes you just have to let the game come to you. And that's what I did."

I sat there stunned by the simplicity and wisdom of this young man's statement. I've since learned that Michael Jordan said the same thing years earlier, when I wasn't paying attention. Now I said to George, "I'm done trying to force us into a place. We'll just let the house come to us." And I truly relaxed for the first time in weeks.

Monday night I popped onto Craigslist on a whim, and there was our house! Perfect location near Lake Champlain, bike path and parks, an old WWI neighborhood of duplexes. George knew the landlord and the next door neighbor from his days on the Burlington City Council. We looked at the house on Tuesday and signed a lease Wednesday. We did end up staying with relatives to bridge two weeks after the closing, but we moved into the Lakeside neighborhood in Burlington on May 1, 2010 and we're still happily ensconced here.

Fast forward to December 16, 2013 - another weekend of family changes, again with a little help from Evan Turner. We were helping Drew move from Boston to Durham NC to start a post-bac program at the Duke School of Nursing. After loading the 12' Penske rental truck in a snowstorm on Sunday, she and I got stuck in traffic for several hours Monday evening near New York City. We were driving tandem, me in the  truck and Drew in her trusty 2000 Corolla. To pass the time I turned on a NYC sports radio station, and heard Evan Turner's name. His pro team, the Philadelphia 76ers, was playing the New Jersey Nets. Unfortunately they were getting trounced. Turner was their star player, but he couldn't do anything right that night. I wanted to reach through the radio and tell him to "relax and let the game come to you." But I relaxed instead, and let Drew navigate us away from the I-95 gridlock. I listened to the rest of the game as we headed southwest through Pennsylvania. The 76ers lost by 40 points. Ouch.

The happy endings came on Friday, Dec. 20. With Drew settling in her new apartment, I flew home to Burlington ahead of the ice storm, arriving around 8pm.  Then, after 20 minutes in line while George paced and worried, we were told that my bag was not lost, just misplaced. There it was sitting behind another airline's counter. And Evan Turner turned his game around, against the Nets again, only four days after their drubbing. He scored 29 points and won the game in overtime with another dramatic shot. Turner sinks one at the buzzer to lift the 76ers in overtime That's my zen master!