Hi Aravanna! I like that cat in your sig. Kitties are so pretty.

I had Facebook once, in the late '00s. Got rid of it ages ago and have only been glad I did so.

I appreciate that Facebook allows me to keep in touch with friends and see pictures of their cute little kids or pets, but it's becoming harder and harder to wade through everything else.

In other news, this is one of the warmest January periods I can remember here in Minnesota, with nighttime lows above freezing rather than below 0F. Lots of fog as the little remaining snow cover simply evaporates into the air.

But that should change over the next 48 hours or so with predictions of up to 8 inches of new snow.

"Quiet boldness" ... I quite like that, Wren!

I really need to check in here more often. I missed you all!

You do! And ditto back atcha' re missing you around the forum.

Hi Shawna! I think I mentioned earlier that I joined NWeb (early 2007) after you weren't on as much, but it's good to see you pop back in to the Square once in awhile.

this is one of the warmest January periods I can remember here in Minnesota, with nighttime lows above freezing rather than below 0F

Just substitute Ontario for Minnesota, and that's us this year too. Such a bizarre January. However, cold has returned, along with snow, and this makes me very .

Hubby's working today, so a friend and I are off to see Hidden Figures, which looks really, really interesting. See y'all!

And Lady Arwen, it's true that Facebook has never been a great platform, but I used to see a lot more original content from people, taking pictures and talking about their life. But alas, a dreaded tide (which we will not speak of here) has drowned about half my feed and the other half is all people resharing memes and recipes.

The dreaded tide washed over me on the facebook front. A friend asked for some information about a social economic issue, so I replied, and one of their friends thought it would be time to be rude and jump down my throat for not having sources that were good enough. Well, they have sources now--but nearly all of them are academic papers from highly reputable economists. Basically, these are very long, and they aren't things you skim. Part of me feels childish for going to the source extreme (aka being petty), but the rest of me just feels proud of the fact that it looks like I was able to use numbers to get a rude person to shut up. That said, I'm probably done explaining socio-politico-cultural things to curious people in semi-public forums for a good while. I'm ok with non-personal stuff when people are polite to each other and it is actually a discourse. I don't like fights and I don't like reshares (aka, memes). I love seeing what people are doing in their real lives.

Also, some of us are just awful at posting our pictures...it was nearly two years after I moved out of Europe before I realized I should actually post my pictures from living there. I had posted a little bit (like food pictures, or funny pictures), but really not that many interesting pictures at all. That was part of what got me back into blogging. I figured if I was gonna post them, I might as well post them nicely, and with the stories that went along with them.

So, our heater broke again. This time, however, apparently the owner of the company that fixes ours found out that we've been having to have someone out at least twice a year (once for the heater, once for the air conditioner: it's a combined unit), and he got on the phone with the company that made it, and got them to replace it for free! We didn't ask for that, but he very kindly took care of it all for us, and we're hoping we can go a lot longer without doing any work on it. It's sad when you have to plan on having it serviced so regularly when you budget expenses. Anyway it was a bit funny, because I was at work most of the day, and come home to find a moving van in our driveway. No one had told me anything about the goings on (other than that it wasn't working), so it was a bit of a surprise.

Jo, please let me know what you think of Hidden Figures. I'm thinking about requiring some of my students to see it.

Staying on the history note, our local Historical Society and Museum, along with our Chinese Benevolent Association, is opening a large exhibit on our area's Chinatown tomorrow, timed with the Lunar New Year. I'm hoping to be able to go after church, if I can find someone to drag along with me. I don't like going to events on my own, and there are supposed to be Chinese historical authors there, which means there will be books, which means...well, I'm not allowed to go to bookstores unsupervised, due to the damage that usually turns up on my credit card. We'll see how it goes. One of my friends is part of the lion dance, so I should probably turn out to support her, anyway.

*Pops back in to catch up last few pages of Town Square*

I am multi-tasking:
Watching the new Sherlock
Watering the front garden
Checking FB and reading NarniaWeb
Having a light snack.
Deciding what to wear tomorrow and considering getting out the iron.

My New Year Resolution: not to actually make one, but to actually achieve the things I have pipe-dreamed about for the last two years.

Not a NYR: Get more involved in the Square this year.

EDIT: It really isn't possible to watch Sherlock and do other things - I am currently rewatching it - 24 hours later!

Hi Shawna! I think I mentioned earlier that I joined NWeb (early 2007) after you weren't on as much, but it's good to see you pop back in to the Square once in awhile.

Hi, Johobbit! Yeah, I've been popping in from time to time again lately. Not a lot going on these days around here, though, unfortunately.

So I've officially started self-publishing now. I have six short works up, though I plan to focus on novels for the most part. It has taken quite a lot longer than I anticipated to get everything going, and there's still stuff I'm not finished doing yet. Website stuff, copyright stuff, etc. But I've got stuff up now, so that's exciting.

If you want to check it out, use the link in my sig. I've got ratings for age-appropriateness marked on the stories, since I tend to write a range and I don't want people to be surprised at not-for-children material.

Our summer is still alternating between hot and cold weather. Today was a cold one, and I am heading to bed very early as I am feeling very tired after a 3-day very warm weekend spent at church camp!

We've been having a weird winter. It'll be weeks of fairly moderate (cold/rainy) and then all of a sudden snow/ice/freezing rain.

And there we were hoping for an early spring. The last two winters have spoiled us entirely.

My older brother (Gus, you know (sorry, jo, I couldn't resist)) is getting married in April, most likely on Easter weekend. Thus the hopes for spring. I'm not too worried about there being snow on the ground, but....
It would be nice if there were plenty of flowers.

Although we have known the family for some years, his courtship and engagement have been rapid. Most of the wedding plan resources I've seen start out with "Twelve months before the wedding, do this..." Ha ha!

At least I don't have to do the planning, or be responsible for much at all. It's stressful enough watching someone else doing it.

Hidden Figures was excellent, Wren. In fact, I think another friend and I are going to take it in tomorrow again.

Congrats for the self-publishing, Shawna!!!

Even though it was a very warm weekend, coracle, was it a good connection time to be away all together?

aileth. And SO nice to see you here. We are very excited for Gus ... your older brother. I have been looking around for a wedding card for them, but the right one hasn't grabbed me yet. It will. Easter ... what a beautiful time for a wedding. All the best to them. And please say a special HI to him from us!

Actually, aileth, the slip-up in his name reminds me of something I have been wanting to send you for awhile. A humorous related story. Will get that over to you soon.

We have had a fair bit of snow this week. Some days have been 'squally'; others (like today) are all day snow. So gorgeous. I could almost live with this all year 'round. Except ... I'd miss autumn far too much.

We are having some friends over tonight (other WW II buffs) to watch The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. And no, it's not my first viewing. Probably my 10th. So good; so hard.

Congratulations to Aileth's brother, who has been found to be a fun-guy, not a fungus. (groans all round)
I managed to get some gardening done today, but there is so much weeding to do. I think I need to pay someone to do a few hours. It was pretty warm today, and I had to take a break for a friend's birthday afternoon tea at a cafe, after which I did some shopping and never got back to the weeds.
And today I almost forgot it was my NarniaWeb anniversary.

Thanks for the compliment Shawna. I quite like cats, which is good since I live with two.

And 'gazer, this February has been unnaturally warm in my state. We have 60's and 70's today and all next week. Alas, nothing but a few flurries of snow this winter. I do like it to occasionally snow if we're going to put up with the season of winter.

Wren I'm actually incredibly bad at posting pictures on Facebook. My husband is much much better than me at sharing anything. He's the only reason anyone know what my cats look like. And it is satisfying to prove your point on Facebook. I've been trying to avoid any debates though, it just doesn't seem to produce anything but more anger and polarization. Nobody actually changes their position, they just get mad.

Jo I've been curious about Hidden Figures. My parents are going to go and see it this week, but I'll probably wait for it to come out on video. It's gotten rave reviews.

And Coracle Sherlock does tend to take up a lot of one's attention doesn't it? It was quite um, hectic this season, but I liked this season for the most part, despite what I've heard other's say. It had it's weaknesses but it was still highly entertaining.

*pokes in*

*waves*

*grins shyly*

Wow. I don't really have time to catch up on stuff, but gosh, I missed ya'll! I'm remembering the days when I was the Cup and Platter Bagel Boy back in 2006 I think...

Just for fun I am going to add that now that LWW is on Netflix, I've been putting it on to fall asleep to. It's so familiar that it doesn't keep me awake, but it's still interesting and exciting!

I want to try to come back more often, but who knows, I might get busy again. But it's great to see all ya'll's names!

Good Mortereve all!

~Sonny

Hey Sonny!

It has been a while! Good to see you again! It's been so long since I've seen LWW, if it's on Netflix, I should give it a go. I'm one of those weird people that usually doesn't rewatch movies more than twice, but if it's been long enough, it's fresh again.

And good Mortereve to all,

Come back if you get a chance, though I know life gets busy.