I'm back.

Break was good, but the main thing I have to say now is: what happened to spring? This was not predicted, was it? (I kind of watch the weather for my home area even when I'm out of town.)

The woman who sat across from me at dinner last night on the train remarked, "My brother says they're supposed to get 4" of snow in Oklahoma City" (I guess it's more than that, now?)

I drove back through cold rain. Not heavy enough to be dangerous and I am glad to say it mostly cleared before I pulled into the Kroger parking lot to get groceries. But it's cold here!

****

I had remembered Saturday last was my father's birthday, but had forgotten until shortly before leaving that it was his **75th** birthday, which is a fairly big deal (At this point, I think he has lived longer than either of his parents did. But then again, medical science, especially in terms of early diagnosis of stuff, has gotten that much better in the past 30 or so years. And unlike both of his parents, my father never smoked.) My brother and sister-in-law also came down for the day so I got to see them as well. (And got my birthday present from them, just a little late).

****

I also got my taxes done. And that was a big job, because on the advice of my financial planner (i.e., my uncle the stockbroker), I had invested in a resource company that involved having to calculate depletion for the past couple years of doing taxes and fill out a Schedule E. Never again. Even if it looks like a good investment (This one turned out not to be; but then again, the capital loss from it helps net me a decent refund).

And yeah, I am getting a decent refund. (I have my withholding set a little high, just in case of a capital gain; I'd rather do it that way then get stuck having to pay the quarterly estimated payments - as happened to my dad one year). I'm thinking this year, instead of putting all of it in my "OH NOES WHAT IF SOMETHING TERRIBLE HAPPENS" fund and never touching it unless something terrible DOES happen, I'm going to spend some of it.

I saw a very sweet, very cute set of mini-cocottes by Le Creuset - tiny, single-serving Le Creuset ovenware, like you could use for heating up French Onion Soup with the toasted bread and cheese on it. (I tend to feel that onion soup without bread and cheese just isn't worth my bothering with). There's also a nifty cookbook for them that features what looks like a baked chocolate pudding on the cover...and I can think of other things the cocottes would be useful for, even making shirred eggs. (Yes, yes, I have ramekins. But these things are just so cute.) This was at the gourmet shop in my parents' town. (I have nothing like that ANYWHERE near me - the closest thing being the Brown Bag in Ardmore, and they don't have as extensive a selection of those kinds of things, being mainly a "bridal registry" type of store).

I've also been contemplating buying a "real" cast iron skillet - the kind you have to season, and then be very careful about the cleaning of - because there are some things that are just better made in case iron than in other types of skillet.

*****

I mentioned my mother's friend Faith, who passed away this last fall. One of her daughters, working to clear out the house, brought a couple boxes of supplies and one of those PVC ("Q-Snap") quilting frames. My mom already had one, and asked me if I wanted it...I decided to take it, thinking, maybe if I put two quilts in two frames and swap out working on them, I will be less likely to get bored and will get more quilting done. (I do have to wait on her figuring out a way to send the thing to me; the longest pieces are about 3' long and we didn't think there was a way to bundle it up so I could take it back on the train without losing bits). I also wound up with a few pieces of fabric, some old buttons (some of them look quite old -figurals of scottie dogs, which were at peak popularity in the 1930s. Faith was not quite 90, so I'm guessing the scottie dogs were either from her mother or her grandmother). I also took some stencils for hand-quilting. I admit I felt a bit bad pawing through all the accumulated stuff, but my mother remarked, "I know Faith would rather you took and used some of these things than that they sat around or wound up in a thrift shop." Still, it will be odd to use the stencils that she had written her name and address on (so they would come back to her when she loaned them out).