To Ohio

So here I am in Ohio, writing from my parents' house.  Lakewood was nice enough to greet me with about 4 inches of snow, but that was probably a good thing.  For several months now, I haven't been sure what month it is.  It's felt like summer since January (with rare patches of different weather), so seeing snow all over the place kind of emphasized that it is, in fact, December.  [Update:  Now January!  How did I ever have the discipline when I was overseas to write every day?!]

Cannon Avenue

Frozen water in a neighbor's gutters.  Don't ask me what that bag contraption is all about.

On my way to Lakewood, I stopped to see Anton and Gary again at their farm.  You might have read about it already, as I visited last fall and learned a few things about being a farmer.  I did less work this time.  Frankly, I was beat from the travel.  I was tired of motivating myself to do something almost every day (back in my "real life," there were a lot of outside things that motivated me -- my job, the invitations of friends, the empty refridgerator telling me to go the store, etc.).  So I don't have as many photos or stories from the farm as I did last year, although the visit was personally very pleasant for me.

I met this dude on a walk around the farm.  Charming, but a bit standoffish.

Nicky and Brian came to Lakewood for Christmas, which was fun.  The past several years we celebrated Christmas (and Hanukkah) in D.C.  Our traditions were mostly the same, just in a smaller space, filled with nutcrackers.  Speaking of nutcrackers... a few days before Christmas, mom and dad and I spent several hours getting all the nutcrackers out and setting them up.  When I told a friend it was nutcracker day, I guess he wasn't thinking about the wooden toys, and thought it was a day we bust my dad's balls or something.  I told him we bust dad's balls every day, and that nutcracker day was the day we got the decorations out.

Speaking of my dad and nutcrackers, here is a nutcracker that looks like my dad:

Dad or a wooden toy?  /scratches head

And here is one of the best presents:  Brian's lottery ticket where every single scratch off won a prize!  Sorry ladies, this rich man is already taken!

Brian and the magic nickle.

Since Christmas, it's been on and off cold, and on and off snowing.  I've done some stuff, which I'll write about later, but mostly I've been very slowly preparing for the rest of 2012, which I've devoted to figuring out where to live, what kind of job I want, and actually securing that job.  I'll keep writing about this, at least at first, because writing should help me to figure out what I want to do.  And maybe will encourage some of you to chime in with opinions or advice.  :)  So stay tuned ...

Oh, and I want to do a wrap-up of 2011.  The best, the worst, my favorites, surprises, etc.  So even if you don't care about my boring old job search, stay tuned for that.