Quiet day

Wednesday
We only had an inch or two of snow last night. It looked beautiful this morning with snow covering everything. As the sun slowly rose overhead, the snow started melting but did not disappear - I suppose the sun is not so warm this time of year.
I packed up some dishes and then decided to take down the Christmas tree.  Monday was little Christmas, and yesterday was Christmas in Macedonia where Tina is from. Tina has done a great job decorating the tree the last two years - she is very artistic. But since she and JB are not here to enjoy it this year, I decided to take it down plus all the nutcrackers, candles, etc.  Every year I forget to pack one Christmas decoration or another. So this year I am gathering everything in 2 places - the kitchen table and the living room. I have an old trunk - it may be one that belonged to Aunt Helen - that I have always kept Christmas ornaments in - I know just where they are. So as I go through everything, I will pack the trunk.
Once I gathered everything together, I decided to take a break - so I had a bowl of soup then went out and did a little shoveling and cleared off my car. The snow did not look as heavy as it was! Maybe because it was melting? I was surprised when I picked up a shovelful. So I took my time and probably looked like a nut with my small shovelfuls of snow. I had almost detached my retina one winter from shoveling - I had never thought such a thing was possible! The ophthalmologist told me to cut out shoveling and no heavy lifting. I still have floaters in my eye since that time and occasional black spots if I do forget and lift something heavy. So I go slow and easy shoveling - and I was thankful that there was no more than this inch or two! I love shoveling - it brings back fun memories when we were kids - my mother made us shovel the whole neighborhood because there were so many old people living there. Looking back, they were probably younger than I am now - they were all working. My mother told us to shovel their sidewalks and driveways so they would be clear when the neighbors got home. Miss Vaughn rented our garage  - she lived across Spring Street - maybe she had no driveway. but we had to have our long driveway cleared so she could drive her car into the garage. My father was also working 2 or 3 jobs so we had to shovel as soon as we were able so he didn't.
My father worked 11-7 on the MBTA's Red line - he would come home and drive kids to Mount Trinity Catholic School in Belmont beside Oakley Country Club, then he would sleep till he had to drive those kids home from Mount Trinity and then go to work as a janitor at the East Junior High School. At some point he was also installing storm windows and doors on the weekends - he did all the houses up and down on Green Street - I don't remember about Marshall Street. He always worked hard. When we were small on Green Street, he tried going to night school to get a college degree. I think it was the kids that kept coming that put a monkey wrench in that dream - me, then Johnny, then Patty, Jimmy, Christine, Jody. He wanted us all to graduate from college.  I remember how proud he was when I was the first to graduate - I had gone to Boston College Nursing School and got through by the skin of my teeth!
While I was outside clearing off my car, my cousin Larry called from Sneem to tell me that our cousin Molly had died in New Jersey before Christmas. We had been wondering why our Christmas cards were returned. Her sister Anne sent Larry a memorial card and a note. I felt badly that we didn't know  - I would have tried to go to the wake and funeral. Molly was very kind to my cousin who died from multiple myeloma and to her mother - Molly was very good to Larry after Sheila and then Hannah died.  Molly was uncle Larry O'Sullivan's oldest daughter. He was the oldest of my great grandmother's  second family - my grandmother, Margaret Moriarty, was youngest of the first family - I think Uncle Larry was about 5 years younger than Ma. He came home from New Jersey when the old pair were sick but would not stay. He told his brother, Uncle Mike - who was next to the youngest - to come home and take over the farm. Uncle Mike liked working in NJ and did not want to go home, but he did. He was m cousin Larry's father. Confusing?
When I came in, I started packing up the Christmas decorations. When I paused, I saw I had a message from Deb Duffy so I called her, and we caught up on life. Then Beth called. I was hungry by the time we hung up - it was 8 o'clock so I sauteed some onions and peppers - added teriyaki sauce then some shredded cheese and had it on a tortilla. It was delicious! And low sodium, low potassium!
I read a little about Venice - I don't know much about that area - as I watched Rachel Maddow and half watched Lawrence O'Donnell.  I left the water running a little in the kitchen and bathroom because of the wild wind and wind chill factor - our pipes have frozen in the past when it was this cold and windy. I watched the 11 o'clock news for the latest weather and called it a night!