Finished reading Golden Hill by Francis Spufford. Set in 1746 New York, it felt Austinesque like the best Aubrey/Maturin stories, though without the nautical adventure. It started out as a fun romp; by the end it became something else, very satisfying but more melancholy. It’s early in the year, but I bet this will be one of my favorite books.

Had Mom over for daube Provençal last night.

Speaking of reading, I started Elric of Melniboné by Michael Moorcock at the end of the year, but set it aside and am probably not returning to it any time soon. It’s part of a collection of Elric stories in order of fictional chronology, and I think this didn’t do the collection any favors: The first part (“Elric of Melniboné”) was pretty good, but I could not get interested in the next (“The Fortress of the Pearl”). In the third (“The Sailor on the Seas of Fate” — a badass title), Moorcock brings together several protagonists from his other stories, and seems to expect that I have read about and care about those protagonists, and then they smash together and become Voltron or something?, and I just had to put it down. I like the idea of Elric, but could not enjoy these stories.

Finished reading The Old Ways by Robert Macfarlane. This is a rambling look at walking, paths, and sailing, and is also (unexpectedly) a little biography of Edward Thomas. I lost momentum about three quarters of the way through, but managed to recover and finish. Maybe I would have preferred the book to be a little shorter, but on the other hand it resonated with me enough that I bought a copy to have on hand when the library loan ends.

Took advantage of the one day of good weather to walk from Pike Place to Fremont via Magnolia: approx. 20K steps, 9¼ miles.

Since Billie was over yesterday, Katie and her son came over for a little Christmas-lite. (The dude doesn’t have any defenses against enthusiastic kids, so escaped early.)

Billie lost power during this morning’s wind, so she came over here this afternoon.

Had Mom and Greg and Jocelyn and the kids over for Christmas. A very good day.

Yesterday, we woke to freezing rain, an icy glaze on everything. The city basically shut down. By evening, things were melting.

It was 17°F when I got up this morning.

Went to Billie’s for an early Christmas dinner with the Nash side of the family.

Went to the Johnstons’ last night for pizza and games. (Dan gave us a ride there and back because he’s a good snow driver and they have a better snow car.)

I don’t know if it stopped snowing overnight, but it’s been going all day so far, and we have several inches accumulation. The street has a hard-packed path in each direction.

Had Mom over for beef Stroganoff.

It’s been snowing all day, anywhere from a few flakes to serious snowfall. Not much accumulation yet, though.