Winter Warmth Continues

This is wild mild weather we are having on Long Island. I brought in more green onions from our garden yesterday. There have been Januarys when the ground was so frozen solid. Not this year. Funny when the weather is this good here the taunts from the Floridians quiet right down. Let it snow and my phone and e-mail fill with jeers from "paradise" about us "poor" northerners!


Third Snowstorm Blows Into Colo., Plains
DENVER (AP) -- The third snowstorm in as many weeks barreled into Colorado on Friday, blanketing the Denver area with up to 8 inches of new snow and further hampering efforts to rescue thousands of cattle stranded by last week's blizzard. Crews worked around the clock to clear roads so residents could get to stores for food and medicine. Several school districts canceled classes because winds gusts up to 30 mph had reduced visibility.

I remember being in Bible College in Colorado in the winter of 1977 when the East Coast was having horrible treacherous winter weather and we were in the 60's with spring temperatures at the same time. The tables have turned.

I plan on taking down the exterior Christmas Lights today then doing yard work in the back, in Larry's Backyard (the name of this blog).

Also in the news:
TOKYO (AP) -- Momofuku Ando, the Japanese inventor of instant noodles -- a dish that has sustained American college students for decades -- has died. He was 96. Nissin Food Products Co., the company Ando founded, said on its Web site that he died Friday after suffering a heart attack.

These were a staple of my diet when I was in college in the late 70's.

Early Rising

I come from a long line of early risers- people who get up before the sun does. My Nana was an early bird. I have told the story many times about when she stayed at our house overnight one summer. It had to be in the late 1960's. A few of us in the neighborhood decided we would go fishing. We had heard the best fishing in early in the morning. So we decided to go at 6am. I got up and quietly went downstairs (I figured everyone was asleep except Dad who would have left for work by then-more about him in a minute). I can still see what I saw in the corner of the living room when I opened the door at the bottom of the stairs. There was my Nana, sitting on the couch, with her Bible opened on her lap. When she heard and saw me she said, "Oooo you are up so early." I said, "We're going fishing." I loved her gentle spirit. She smiled and said, "Oh." Guess she realized that I was becoming like her in this way.

My dad got up early almost all his life until his retirement 15 years ago this month. I was with him on his last day of work. When he lived in Bellmore he would rise around 5am. He worked for WISE Potato Chips and needed to be in Brooklyn by 7am. He worked in the Carnarsie section. He had to drive and pick up his truck first in New Hyde Park and then get back down to Brooklyn to begin his route. When he moved upstate in 1973 he had a Drakes Cake Route and on Mondays he would get up at 4am. He sleeps in these days.

Now I have continued this practice. I'm up now at 5:50am on a Saturday. I spoke to a funeral director last week. He rises at 4am each day. But we know we are in the minority. It is quiet at this hour because there are so few up before the sun. We are in good company though. When Jesus was here, well let me quote it right from Mark's Gospel, chapter one, verse thirty five. Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where He prayed.

Good Morning whatever time it is when you read this.