Here are some things that have been working well this winter:

While we were visiting YaYa there was a massive snowstorm that dropped 5 feet of snow on the mountain. That was a lot of snow! As the storm was beginning to settle in, I went on a long walk on a walking path that connects all the important parts of…

While we were exploring at Mono Lake, we came across a little hot spring that was feeding freshwater into the salt water. It barely even smelled, which was a far cry from the hot springs we were around when we visited YaYa in Colorado last year. It was fun to…

There are wild horses that roam in the region of Mono Lake, and YaYa found part of a skeleton of a horse that had met its demise. In addition, those horses leave piles of manure here and there. Most of the piles of manure looked like normal horse business. But…

Because of the impending megasnowstorm, YaYa declared the day after we arrived to be Scenic Driving Day. She happily woke up her brother far before dawn, and we piled into her car to drive just a bit to Mono Lake at sunrise. It was amazing. Mono Lake is a crazy…

During our February break from school Mr. TOF and I hopped on an airport shuttle and a couple of airplanes to visit YaYa. Mr. TOF loved traveling with his analog parent. Ha! We brought along the flip phone and a lot of paper printed boarding passes and travel confirmation papers!…

Peanut Maximus has an imaginary friend. Actually, he has a few imaginary friends, but the one who shows up consistently these days is Paul E. Cello. Paul E. Cello does indeed play an imaginary cello, and he also seems to teach numerous other musical instruments. He also spends a lot…

He really, really loves his dad.

Last Sunday was the youth orchestra Lollipop Concert. It’s a many decade tradition here, and for the first time I only had one kid playing in it! That made me a little sad, actually. I was missing my big kidlets. But I still enjoyed the music and and loved seeing…