Frost

Good afternoon!  How has your day been so far? 

We spent the morning doing work/grading, and then around 11:45, decided to leash up the dogs and explore the snow! 

One dog was ready to go (and is ALWAYS ready to go):

…and one dog, not so much:

Sweet Baxter…he would spend all day lazing under the covers if he could.  Actually, that’s exactly how he spends most days!

We got all suited up:

Looking good!  I also sported my new snow boots, which I have decided look like Napoleon Dynamite’s shoes:

They’re probably the best snow shoes that I know of…GOSH!

Anywho.

After we got all suited up, we leashed up the dogs and headed out the front door.  But someone, who shall remain nameless, wasn’t having any of it *cough* Baxter! *cough*.

Poor little guy! He’s just too small for cold weather like this.  Even with his sweater on, he started shaking the minute his tiny paws hit the ground.  We snapped this quick pic, and then put him back in the house, where he promptly ran up to the bedroom and got nice and warm under the covers again!

Ella, on the other hand, loves the snow!  It brings out the friskiness in her like nothing else!  About a five-minute walk from our house, a gravel road turns into a woodsy area with trails branching out from it.  It’s kind of like a park, but completely undeveloped and rugged.  We like to take Ella up there because we can let her go off leash…she wears out much more quickly that way

Here are some shots from our walk up.  Aren’t the streets pretty?

One of the things that surprised me the most when we moved to Altoona was how hilly and steep the streets are here– we have some hills in our neighborhood that are almost completely vertical!

Once we got to the trails, we let Ella off her leash and began to hike.

Like I said, she loves the snow!

If you follow one of the trails for about 15 minutes, you eventually reach a really nice lookout point that overlooks the whole town.  Today, it was almost too gray to see any of it!  If you squint though, you can make out some houses and buildings:

I guess it’s just the poet in me, but days like today always feel like a Robert Frost poem, come to life.

“Two roads, both diverged in a yellow wood / and sorry I could not travel both…”

“The woods are lovely, dark and deep…”

Lovely, indeed.

When we got back to the house, it was time for lunch!

Last night, for appetizers, we snacked on Kashi crackers with sage derby cheese.  We had some of both left over, so I knew that I wanted to use the sage derby in my lunch somehow.  Have you ever had sage derby?  It might just be my favorite kind of cheese!  The green color can be a little off-putting at first, but once you get past that– the flavor is awesome.  Seriously, if you’ve never tried it, I would highly recommend it! 

Here ’tis:

I decided to make something that I never really make: a quesadilla!  I don’t know why I never think to make a quesadilla for lunch…I just always heat my wraps rolled up in the microwave, I guess.  But I’m going to be making them more often, because this one was a-may-zing.

In a skillet, I heated up a smart wraps tortilla and topped one side with: sage derby, 1 laughing cow wedge, and apple slices. So simple, but so good!

And all plated up, along with a big ol’ salad– I realized that I haven’t gotten much in the way of greens in the last few days!  Keeping this blog is a great way to keep track of the balance (or lack thereof) in my meals.

Enjoyed on a reindeer plate, of course.

For dessert, I had:

Because we’re only going to be here for a few short weeks before Christmas, we decided not to get a Christmas tree this year…but, our neighbors have a tree in their yard that looks just like one, so we get to enjoy that from our breakfast room  window as we dine!

Doesn’t it look just like a giant Christmas tree?

I wonder if they’d mind if I hung some ornaments from it? 

That walk/hike finally wore Ella out.  I’m not sure what’s on the agenda for the rest of the day, but I’m sure it’s nothing to strenuous!

Hope you’re having a great day!  See you for dinner!