Marvelous Monday: Week 6

This weekend included volunteering at the Valentine's Day TC 5K at Lake Harriet, a few Friday Night Lights episodes, pad thai, the hot air balloons and the annual White Elephant birthday party with my extended family. My parents host it, and this year was the first at their new house. It was a great afternoon (with a Mardi Gras inspiration to boot - credit my brother for the idea!).

Here is our traditional waving photo. My brother is hiding behind my husband's hand.

I keep laughing whenever I look back at this photo. Recapping this party might have to be a separate post.

Five more nice tidbits to begin the week:

1) I get to see some dear friends later this week and am so excited.

2) I've had the ingredients for no-boil macaroni and cheese since Friday and finally made it for dinner tonight. I like this recipe a lot.

3) This week includes both Valentine's Day and my sister's birthday!

4) My mom lent me The Language of Flowers yesterday. It was perfect timing, because I was just about to look for a new book.

5) I read today that this winter in Minnesota has been the coldest one in 32 years. The marvelous part: beginning tomorrow, the temperatures are climbing upward!

What's marvelous about the beginning of your week? What's for dinner tonight (or later this week)? And what are you reading now?

Hot air balloon festival

Yesterday I saw a hot air balloon mass ascension, and it was about as amazing as I thought it might be.

I've wanted to go to a hot air balloon festival for years, and when I made my 101 in 1,001 list, I put that goal in writing. I narrowed my options down to a few festivals: the famous one in Albuquerque, one near Josh's hometown, and a local one I stumbled across through a quick Google search.

This is Hot Air Affair, a festival held annually in February in Hudson, Wisconsin, which is about half an hour away. Hot Air Affair celebrated its 25th anniversary this weekend, so it has been around a lot longer than when I first found out about it a few years ago. That's also when I learned that coordinating a hot air balloon launch is a precise and challenging task, especially in Minnesota in February. Per Hot Air Affair's website, there needs to be a light wind (but less than eight miles per hour), good visibility, and either sunshine or high cloud ceilings. The festival hosts several launches each weekend, and in 2012, Josh and I tried to go twice but conditions ruled out a launch both times.

This year, we were in luck! We were about halfway to Hudson when we got word via Twitter that the afternoon launch was on!

When we arrived at the elementary school site that hosts the festival, we went over to the field, where plenty of people had gathered for the launch. One balloon was preparing. It was hard to get a sense of how many balloons there would be, but I was already in awe.

We popped inside the school for a minute, and I loved the concession area's decorations: hot air balloons hanging from the ceiling, of course.

When we went back outside, that balloon was in the air already!

Trucks and trailers kept rolling in with more and more balloons, and each crew would go through the steps to prepare its balloon. The whole event happened over about an hour, and I'd guess three dozen balloons lifted off during that time. It was neat to see several waves of set-up, preparation, and launching. I loved all the colors. In addition to the traditional bright stripes, there was one balloon that looked like a fish and one that had tomatoes and horses and butterflies on it.

Even with overcast skies, the balloons in the air were magnificent. The crowd was loving it, and the people in each balloon's basket would wave as the balloon lifted into the air.

 

It was beautiful. I went into the day hoping but not expecting to see a launch, and this was a wonderful surprise. I have a hunch that this will be among my 101 in 1,001 list's highlights.

A restorative run

Every few weeks, I go for a type of a run that I describe as either "restorative" (if we are being formal) or "lollygagging" (if we are not). (The last time I wrote about this here was in mid-December.) I head out on a shorter route necessary for the window of time I have, take my camera with me and do things like tromp through knee-deep snow to look at a frozen river or get closer to a shadow that catches my eye. I give myself a few minutes to wander, without a schedule.

It's easy, easy to enjoy this wandering in the summer - but I think it's equally important (if not more so) to make time for it in the winter.

Magnificent sun dog

Today I saw my first sun dog!

If you are in Minnesota, you are probably shaking your head in disbelief and wondering how this could be true. This cold, snowy, long winter has been exceptional for sun dogs, which basically involve sunlight passing through ice crystals when the sun is low on the horizon. (You can read lots more about this phenomenon on today's MPR weather blog.)

Periodically through the winter, my Twitter feed has exploded with content about sun dogs, and every time, I've been out and about either too early or too late to see a sun dog. You can guess that this greatly displeased me.

Today, I looked at Twitter before taking Wish out for his morning walk, and once again, Minnesota was on sun dog alert. I wondered if today would be the day that I finally saw one and if I would even be able to spot it.

We trotted outside, and there was no mistaking it. I gasped.

We strolled around the neighborhood for a few brisk minutes (it was -10) and I couldn't take my eyes off it. It was a magnificent sight to start the day.

Little-bit-late Marvelous Week 5

Hi, Tuesday! Between the Super Bowl outcome and the sudden onset of a common cold, the week began on a slightly inauspicious note. But, as always, there were marvelous tidbits to celebrate, too, so that's how we'll start the week's blogging:

1) The very friend I wrote about on Saturday got engaged later that day. I am so happy for this sweet couple!

2) I signed up for another year with my garden plot over the weekend, and it has me dreaming of spring and summer and basil and lots of tomatoes.

3) Tomorrow is college football's National Signing Day. Tennessee's recruiting cycle has been so much fun to follow this year, and while there aren't likely to be too many surprises tomorrow for UT, it's still a very exciting day.

4) Speaking of football, Josh and I are well into the fifth and final season of "Friday Night Lights." I am not ready for it to be over.

5) A small triumph: I learned how to sew a button-hole over the weekend.

Any small triumphs of your own to report, Reader? Are you making any plans for the warmer months yet? And what's marvelous about the start of your week?