January days…office move…snow cake...and snow angels

OFFICE  MOVE

Mark moved from his office on one side of Marathon's offices to one facing the Cultural Palace.  One evening after work I joined Mark as he spent some time unpacking in his new "home".

This office actually is on the same side of the building that Mark worked on when he first arrived in Warsaw, but his first workspace was a cubicle on the other side of the wall.  

The move was a good one as this office is bigger, lighter and has a great view of the streets of downtown Warsaw and the beautiful Centrum area.  Here is his view on a typical winter day.

THE  SNOW  CAKE
We were amazed at how the snow continued to fall and fall in January. I decided to stand a 12-inch ruler in the snow on the table on our terrace.  When I first stood the ruler on the table it measured just over 8 inches of snow.

The snow kept coming down, and occasionally we would check to see how high it measured.

Eventually, the ruler was nearly completely buried in the snow!

Here is the terrace from the steps on the side.  The snow in the chairs looks like people dressed in white, with their arms resting on the chairs and hands on the edge of the table, ready to eat the massive white cake before them….except that the "people" in the chairs don't have heads.

It's a good thing I snapped these pictures when I did, because a couple of hours later our gardener came and started removing the snow!  I was a little disappointed….he usually does not shovel the snow from our terrace, but we think our landlord must have seen all the snow and wanted some of it removed.

For someone accustomed to Warsaw winters this might not be a big deal.

But for us who were raised in southern California and then lived in Texas for 30 years…the snow continues to amaze.

SNOW  ANGELS

Earlier in the day we had gone on another walk through the park near our home, and upon our return we decided to go into the back yard to make snow angels.  It was tricky getting to the back of the house…as this huge pile of snow covered the walkway.  

This pile was the accumulation of all the snow that the gardener had shoveled off of our porch and walkways.  Since the temperature had been below freezing for a few weeks, the snow had not melted, and the pile kept growing higher and higher.

We made it into the yard….

….where the my boots sunk several inches into the snow.

Here we would make the snow angels.  I went first.

There I am in the snow!

Mark was next….

….making a snow angel beside mine.

It's tricky to get up and out of the angel without messing it up.

I had no idea that I was so much smaller than Mark…but the snow angels show it!

It was fun to look out of our bedroom window and see our imprints in the snow.

We have enjoyed the January snow…and that means one more month of our winter was coming to a close. The snow is pretty….

….and little did we know that the first week of February would bring temps in the high 30s, and almost all of the snow would melt!

Warsaw Winter Walks…January 2013

January in Warsaw was filled with snow…so much more snow this year than our first winter last year.  The whiteness of the snow is brilliant….

….and though we rarely had blue skies or sunshine on these snowy days….the white snow is simply picturesque!

On the 3rd weekend in January our date was to walk through the park across the street from our neighborhood. Originally we planned to go to a museum, but it was snowing all day and sometimes it just feels good to stay close to home.

So we bundled up in layers, and though snowing….

….left our home and walked toward the park.

As we turn left out of our gate, this is the scene we see.  

To get to the park we walk to the end of this street, turn left and then right, and cross a street.  Usually we can walk there in 5 minutes…but when snow covers the streets and sidewalks, it's a longer trip.

We brought my nordic walking poles and we each used them at different times on our walk.

In the beginning there was no one in the park but Mark, me, and….a paddle of ducks on the edge of a mostly-frozen pond.  (That's right - a paddle of ducks.)

Some of the ducks were swimming in the small portion of the pond that had not frozen yet.

Occasionally a duck sits in the snow by itself. 

It makes us wonder…does it stay warm in the snow….when it is sitting by itself?

I have often observed that the cold does not keep people from venturing outside and walking…

….but this was a snowy morning and the snow had been falling for quite a while.  So there were few people walking on this Saturday morning.  

The snow had covered the benches in the park.

Further into the park we began to see other people.  

Our first glimpse of another person was an odd sight....

….someone bicycling in the snow!

A jogger….

….and a cross-country skier.

Mostly, it was just Mark and me walking for 45 minutes in this beautiful, cold wintry park!

Someone once told us, "There is no such thing as bad weather…only improper clothing"!  So we bundle up, walk, travel and enjoy (usually) winter in Warsaw.

It's easy to get used to seeing only white and brown during the winter.  So it's surprising and fun to occasionally see splashes of color….

….such as the red berries in these bushes.

I have often read or heard about something being "whiter than the driven snow", and I think….

 ….this snow is so white and beautiful…how could something be whiter than this?

My daring Mark…not satisfied to walk on the path.  He could tell the pond in the center of the park was frozen and that others had walked on it.  So he asked himself, "Why not walk on it myself?"

Standing on the edge of the pond...

…a little further out…

….but still closer to the bank than the center of the pond.

As we circled the park and the pond, we noticed a women bundled, but feeding bread to the ducks.  People here love, love feeding bread to the birds!

We also noticed a neighbor whose house is directly across the road from the park…shoveling and dumping his snow in the park.

We never saw a wheelbarrow used like this in Houston!

I was ready to come inside our warm home…

…. to change into dry, warm clothes….and to walk in my stocking feet on our heated kitchen floor.

Much snow had fallen on this Saturday morning….and it was only getting deeper.

So although we have a gardener who shovels the snow in the winter, Mark stayed outside for the next hour, shoveling the snow from the porch, steps, and front walkways.

He enjoyed the exercise, the results of the work….and even met some of our neighbors in the process.

Our Saturday date was simple and fun…walking in Park Arkadia….bundled up, snow falling, and being together!

Happy Valentines' Day….

Happy Valentine's Day in Warsaw

2013

It seems like the Christmas trees and decorations were just coming down…(they were in Warsaw) and Valentine's Day was here!

Mark reminded me that we had our first date….almost 40 years ago!!!!

This year…we shared a Valentine's Day moment with desserts at the Almi Decor restaurant next door to Mark's office and right inside the Złote Tarasy Mall.

Mark loved his raspberry crepes...

I enjoyed my ice cream banana sundae. 

They were yummy!

Poland has great chocolate…including chocolates from E. Wedel…we enjoyed a few...

on  recently purchased Polish pottery plates…with designs that remind me of "Forget Me Nots".

White tulips…chocolates….and time...celebrating together!

Saturday Sledding

Our January days were filled with lots of snowy weather….as a result, Mark was looking forward to trying his snow boogie board that he purchased at the end of last winter, but didn't get to use until now. 

A month ago, January 11, the hill behind our home was covered with several inches of snow and Mark was ready to go sledding, or snow boogie-ing.  On his Saturday "to do" list was "Go sledding".  He tried to get me to go with him….but I opted to take pictures of him having so much fun!

Mark climbed the 50+ stairs with his board in hand. We climb these steps almost every day as we leave our home and go out into the neighborhood and streets of Warsaw.

We get a good aerobic workout every time we climb...

When Mark got to the top of the hill he said, "Wow!  This looks really steep!"
I was thinking…"Yes, of course….it looks steep because it is steep"!

   Though Mark looked alone on this Saturday morning, he really wasn't….there were parents and children to his left, sledding on parts of the hill that weren't as steep.

Mark chose to go head first…as if he were riding the waves at the beach.

He ate a LOT of snow on his slide down! 

He was having so much fun he even went down the hill a few more times!

The fresh snow was cold!  Luckily Mark was dressed in layers, as the snow clung to him. 

 It was even snowing while he was sledding!

Mark was covered from head to toe…in the cold, wet snow…yet I think he was having fun!

Mark convinced me to go down the sled on a little hill…One could hardly call it sledding but I tried.

Happy snow boogie-ing in January….we wonder how many of our weekends will be the same?

Here is a short clip of Mark sledding for the first time in Warsaw…. Never too old to have some fun!