Snowbanks, Spoons, and Snuggle-bunnies

Well, the snowbirds have landed back in VA.  We know lots of folks who buy a condo someplace warm and start heading south every winter.  (Jerry Seinfeld even did a bit about that once, how you reach a certain age and the cops show up at your door and tell you you've got no choice but to move to FL and start driving a golf cart.)  My husband and I didn't think we'd ever become "those people," no matter how old we got, because we love living in New England..

In spite of this.

That's how high the snowbanks at the end of our driveway were on Tuesday, when we left to fly back down here.

Wait, let me put this in better perspective.

There it is.  There's our mailbox.

In spite of all the snow--or perhaps in part because of it (because it sure is pretty, isn't it?), it was wonderful to spend a few days back at the old homestead, catching up with our mail, getting some important things taken care of, and having a dinner out with our neighbors--who kindly came down with their snow-blower while we were gone and cleared away the parts that were too close to the house for the plow guy to get.  (Without their help, we would have had trouble getting in the door!)

While we were home, I enjoyed being where I "have my things about me."   (If you've never seen the delightful John Wayne movie called "The Quiet Man"--which you should!--you probably won't get that reference.  I'm channeling Maureen O'Hara's feisty Mary Kate Danaher here.) 

I was especially happy to use one of "my things," the special Christmas gift I got this year from my firstborn son and his wife.

No, it's not the creamer and sugar set (those are pieces of Salmon Falls pottery, made in Dover, NH), or the cup with the way-too-dark coffee in it (somebody give that another shot of cream, STAT!).   It's the sweet vintage spoon that my daughter-in-law found for me on Etsy.  And it's the engraving that really makes it special.

As if I didn't already enjoy the whole coffee drinking experience enough already, this spoon makes it even more fun for me.  It really reminds me of my twin granddaughters, Bonny Babe and Cutie Pie.  Whenever we'd go to their house, they knew I would make a pot of coffee each morning.  Their mommy sometimes drinks it, when she's not pregnant, but she often prefers tea.  And Daddy and Papa are not coffee drinkers.  But they know I am.  And they have a coffee maker that beeps when it's finished brewing.  So even when they were very young, they'd hear the beeping sound and right away they'd say, "Grammy's coffee!"

I love that spoon. It was the perfect gift from that particular family.

So I miss my awesome spoon, and some of the other comforts of home.  But I don't miss the single-digit temperatures.  And if I was there and not here, I'd be missing spending time with  this little snuggle-bunny.

So I think I'm right where I should be.