Monday, January 9, 2012

Meanwhile, outside ...

I made another trip to the conservatory and took some more photos of poinsettias. It's a fine place to see some color on an otherwise pretty drab day. A lot of other color enthusiasts were doing the same thing.


Some more impressive poinsettias.  There are apparently several varieties that have been created with white sections on the red leaves.  Who knew?


The reflecting pond in the Sunken Garden was calm and lovely as usual.


It was a record setting warm day in Minnesota for January 9. Inside the poinsettias were blooming and outside the cocuses were getting confused by the warmth. Meanwhile these guys were ice fishing on Como in the 49 degree heat. I also encountered a couple of high school age guys running around the lake shirtless at the same time the ice fishermen were tempting fate out on the ice. A strange day in Minnesota.


The white elephant party went well on Saturday. We had 15 people exchanging gifts, eating pizza, salad, and pie while chatting and remembering previous Christmases and people not with us that night. The usual array of Christmas meat, bobble-head deities, and gag gifts changed hands. It was a fun evening and we are likely to continue the tradition again next year.

4 comments:

Santini said...

Brilliant color in those poinsettias. Very pretty.

15 people sounds like a near record turn out. Most of the Minnesota family. Good job.

Jimi said...

Yep, even Nikki and Laurie came and brought along Kara Donnithorne. Also the girl from the north country brought a dwarf artificial Christmas tree to have a place to put the assortment of goodies. I skipped the tree this year because of the Norway expedition.

Santini said...

Glad to hear that Nikki and Laurie came -- and Kara is Jayne's daughter, I think. I saw something on Nicole's Facebook about a talking cookie jar -- it sounded suspiciously like a white elephant gift.

Jimi said...

Yes, a white elephant gift filled with oreo cookies. One of the big favorites along with tubes of salami and a certain "nodding" deity.

Kara, Jayne's daughter, is a senior at St Olaf in Northfield.