use real butter

Recipe: chinese stir-fried beef noodles

Can’t think. I’m tired and there were so many pictures and observations from today that I wouldn’t know where to begin. So I won’t just yet.

But there is a recipe…. because it is my dad’s birthday today. I think most people associate birthdays with cake, but I associate birthdays with noodles per the Chinese tradition.

My dad is the CEO of the house and my mom is the CFO. Dad likes management speak, because he was a manager as well as an engineer. When I was in college, they sent me a check for my birthday one year. My father told me, “I have authorized Mommy to release some funds for your birthday present.” What a hoot.

The local ski hill reported 3 inches of snow. I set off this morning to see what I could capture of the overlap of seasons. It is one of the highlights of living in the mountains when the first snowfall manages to sneak in before all of the aspens have turned bare. I was surprised to see as much color as I did… but the stripped aspen trunks are quite beautiful in their own right.

Anyway, I don’t have the time for a recipe tonight since I am swamped this week. So hopefully the pictures from this morning will tide you over until tomorrow. You can see a few more shots on the photo blog. NaBloWriMo is still going strong!

**Jump for more butter**

On the drive back to the house after dinner last night, fantastic lightning storms were raging in the sky over Pagosa Springs. Just as I grabbed my camera off the kitchen counter to go outside on the deck, it began to rain, then sleet, then hail like nobody’s business! It was too much even for me. Before MIL and I went back to work in the quilt room, I watched Jeremy and his brother playing some game on the Wii. If you think it is fun to play, it is equally hilarious to watch as two 6-foot tall, thirty-something, skinny guys punch the air while shouting, “No way!” or “How did you do that?!” or “Come on!!!”

When I stepped out onto the deck this morning, there was some snow on the ground. Woooohoooo! Even though Pagosa is further south than Ned, we usually get less snow than my ILs do. Still, we’ll gladly take less if it is enough to ski. Winter is coming.