Tonight I was taken away as a captive. To Pandora. A magical place where people live in harmony with animals and the indigenous forest on their planet. My skin was blue with striping and I had cool dots on my body that illuminated at night. I had a long tail. I also had a long braid of hair that swung from the top of my head that melded with animals and vegetation. My mind, via my hair braid,  melded with my horse, my dragon, and quite possibly my mate, although the last one I don’t exactly know for sure. My legs were very long (finally!) and so was my neck.

I was a great warrior. I stood up for my people. I was also only an Avatar.

For about two hours and forty minutes I lived this life. Then I took these off and I was just a “new” Jersey Girl again. Can I go back?

If you don’t know what I am talking about and you love science fiction, run—don’t walk— to your nearest cinema and see this movie. But, please, see it in 3-D.

Today I mailed off the last of my Christmas gifts. I am thankful to live in such a small town where the lines at the Post Office this time of year are only five people deep, even though a few of those people had tons of stuff to mail. The older-than-me lady in front of me was chatty and didn’t have an envelope or box for what she was mailing yet. We discussed her options, box vs envelope, and she told me what she mailing off to her daughter and granddaughter. Surprise! We were both mailing the same kind of gift! Something done by hand ... can’t tell you what because the recipient of the gift reads the blog. So, we chatted a bit about the gifts we had both made.

The woman behind me was pregnant—very—with a little girl in tow. The woman in front of me turned around and asked her if she knew if she was having a boy or girl. “Boy,” she replied. “Oh how nice!” the woman in front of me said. “We’ll see ...” said the expectant mother. I jumped into the conversation (what the heck) and asked her when she was due. “Any day now,” was her reply. “I hope he waits until after Christmas as I don’t want her (pointing to her little girl) to miss Christmas.” I told her I was a Christmas week baby myself and it wasn’t such a bad time of year to be born.

My turn at the counter finally arrived. I took my box up and sat it down, pointing at the corners where Alex (left in the car) had chewed on the box while I was taking Hailey inside to the groomers. Damn dog. I asked the postal clerk if she could please put some large tape on the two damaged corners where there were now gaping holes since my dog had decided to chew on it. She laughed and looked up at me. “My dog peed on my Christmas tree this weekend and it’s not even real. He has never done anything like that! Not even when he was a puppy which was a long time ago. I had to wash everything down and it still stinks,” she told me. “Oh, dear, how awful!” I murmured. The postal clerk at the next station asked me what kind of dog it was. I told her a Bernese Mountain Dog. The woman who had been in front of me in line was still taking care of her package at the clerk next to me. “OH!” she exclaimed, “I just love those dogs but they are too big for me!” Too bad. I was going to offer her Alex for real cheap.

As that woman was leaving she turned to wish the young mother-to-be good luck and then wished me a Merry Christmas. I wished her one back, finished up my transaction and left, wishing them all a Merry Christmas.

Did I say why I love living in a small town? None of us knew each other, but that didn’t matter one bit!

Me thinks the weather people have been on too many vacations to Mexico. So far we have about an inch at 9:00 p.m.
So much for forecasting.
I wish I were a weather-forecaster-type-person.
I would get paid for a job whether (weather) or not I am right or not.
After all, I can blame it on the this or that etc., etc.

Well, I’ve been productive this afternoon but Mother Nature not so much. Yet. We shall see.

Here is Mother Nature before:

And Mother Nature around 3:00 p.m.

Really, Mom, you’re going to have to step it up a bit here. Just look at what I’ve accomplished next to your piddly little skiff of snow.

Giant Ginger Cookies:

Toffee Squares:

To be continued ...

Everyone around us is on snow alert. We got up early this morning to do some Christmas dinner shopping at the Fairway Market in Paramus. At 9 o’clock in the morning the store was jammed with shoppers rushing to get done before the snow starts. Snowplows appear on the front of nearly every truck you pass. Sand trucks stand at the ready. On Skyline Drive the Road Closed Snow Emergency signs are already up and waiting. (Skyline Drive is high in elevation and is always closed during bad snows. From the top of Skyline Drive you can, of course, on a clear day see the Manhattan skyline. Hence it’s name.) But will the blizzard really materialize or will the whole thing pass us by?

Let’s see how we’re doing here at home.
Salt and snow shovels? Check.
Wood split? Check.
Bolognese sauce cooking on the stove? Check.
Ingredients for baking cookies? Check.
Anticipation and excitement? Check.

We are all waiting. The stage is set and the players are ready to spring into action. All that’s left is for the star of the show to really and truly show up for her big performance. Mother Nature, bring it on!

Right now at noon it’s 20 degrees, the wind has picked up and the air is raw and damp. Stay tuned to this blog for further updates.