Blizzard in Philly

Overnight a blizzard dumped a lot of snow on Philadelphia and up and down the East Coast. NYC got a lot too. We were talking to Rita last night and she was describing the snow coming down outside her window and happy that she had nowhere to go over the next few days. We had also talked to Katie this week and she was anticipating the heavy snow coming and having the kids home from school again.

So today it looks like the kids are having some fun with the snow in their backyard and the snow in the photos have really piled up around their house.

One of the things about snow storms in Philly is the snow piled up on the narrow streets where there isn't anywhere to put the snow. The narrow streets get clogged with plowed in cars and huge piles of snow. The snow plowing by the city focuses on the main streets and the narrow side streets just don't get plowed very well.

The grandkids did get to play in the snow in their backyard today. It looks like Todd made them a snow fort.

Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child

Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child have been writing together a series of horror crime mystery novels since 1995. Most of them have featured the maverick FBI detective Aloysius Pendergast along with a few other characters that have been part of this ongoing series.

I've enjoyed 26 of their novels. I have been reading them since 2018 so I've read a few a year. A new book was just recently released and yesterday I put an e-book copy on hold with the NY public library. I'm looking forward to reading it. The last book of this series I read in 2024.

I also read of couple of Douglas Preston's earlier historical nonfiction books.

Hockey Gold - USA vs Canada

Becky and I watched the USA vs Canada Olympic hockey game this morning and were very excited to see the USA get the gold medal in a 2-1 overtime game. It was an awesome game and very tough for both teams. I really did think that Canada was going to win because they seemed to dominate throughout most of the game. Then came the 3 on 3 sudden death overtime. Wow, what an ending. And what a way to end the two weeks of the Olympics. The closing ceremony will be on this afternoon.

We were downstairs watching the game by 8:30 this morning which meant we missed a few minutes of the first period. I thought it was starting at 8:30. We didn't much and we certainly saw a lot of the game. And of course the overtime too.

Jack Hughes scored the winning goal in overtime and the goaltender Connor Hellebuyck won the MVP award for the tournament. This was the first time the USA team won Olympic gold in hockey in 46 years... since that Miracle on Ice against the Soviet Union at Lake Placid in 1980.

And the USA women's hockey team beat the Canadian team in overtime a few days ago.

Open The Bars

I saw some online reporting this evening concerning the US vs Canada hockey game tomorrow for the gold medal. 

Today New York Governor Kathy Hochol made the following statement:

"Tomorrow, it's a gold medal morning. I've directed the State Liquor Authority to suspend enforcement of alcohol service hour from 6-10 AM so bars and restaurants can open early and fans can watch the U.S. go for gold together. Go USA."

We all know that the governor is a Buffalo girl and watching important hockey games in a bar is a tradition. Well, this is for most of New York but some places, like NYC, are under a state of weather emergency because of a coming blizzard so they cannot open. I also saw a list online of Buffalo bars that will be open very early tomorrow morning for the game and be serving drinks... and food.

Lion Hearts: A Novel

Lion Hearts by Dan Jones, 2025. The third novel of the Essex Dogs Trilogy. I read this book in a week and enjoyed it very much as I did the first two novels in this series of Middle Ages history and the Hundred Years War between England and France.

At the end of this book it certainly looked like there will be another one in the series.

The author Dan Jones is a popular historian and journalist who has written at least a dozen books on the history of the Middle Ages throughout his career and only recently began writing these historical novels.

There are a lot of his books I've put on my to-read list including ones about the Crusades, the Templars and many others.

Another Box to Clean Out

I cleaned out another box of "stuff" today that contained lots of paperwork, maps, guide books, tickets, etc from our trip to London and Paris in 2018. Most of the stuff I threw away. I did keep a small amount of our personal guide pamphlets that I think we would enjoy looking through one more time but everything else went into the recycle container unless it had personal info that went into the trash.

There must be another box somewhere with our "stuff" from our 2019 trip to Dublin, London and Edinburgh. It will be fun to go through that one too.

Winter Flowers

I went out in the backyard today because it was the first time in many weeks that there was no snow there. It had melted with the rain and 40 degree temperatures since last night. I was surprised to find some snow drops blooming. There were also some daffodils that had popped up. It looks like Becky's green thumb is at work.

Later this afternoon there will be snow coming to bury those plants again.

Some Spring Fever

Earlier today and this evening we had gone out around town. It was a sunny day and the temperatures were in the high 30's and low 40's and the snow was melting. Some people had spring fever. We saw people jogging in shorts and t-shirts. There were people all over the place walking around in shorts. From our table in JT's we saw lots of folks on Elmwood Avenue walking around and we saw one woman with a bare mid-drift outfit. It's amazing how quickly people in Buffalo jump into some spring fever before it's spring. All they need is a little bit of improved weather and some sun to get the fever.

JT's Tonight

Tonight we went to JT's for dinner to use that gift certificate we got for Xmas from Sean and Ashley. First we had gone to Hallwalls to check out an art show. Then we went over to Elmwood Avenue and parked the car on Bidwell. We stopped at Talking Leaves bookstore for a bit looking at potential belated birthday gifts for Sean. Then we walked down the street to JT's.

It was about 5 pm when we got there which is a little earlier than we usually get there. There were only a couple tables in use plus the bar was busy as usual because they have their happy hour food specials at the bar. We got a nice seat near the front window just under the heaters. It was very comfy.

We started off with splitting a Caesar Salad after I got my glass of Tuscan Blend red wine and Becky got an NA. Becky had the Rigatoni Bolagnese which is something I usually get. I ordered their Black Spaghetti and Shrimp. It was a wonderful meal.

Wd did have a little confusion with the gift card that I had on my phone but they are used to those things while we are not. All went well and we may sure the waiter, who was very good, got his tip.

Overall a wonderful evening.

Hallwalls Amid/In WNY 2026

Becky and I went to Hallwalls this afternoon to see the Amid/In Western New York shows. We missed going to the opening a couple of weeks ago because not only the extremely deep frigid temperatures that night but there was also a big Sabres related event next door which would talk up most of the nearby parking. We would have had to walk a long way to park. We didn't go to the opening but Becky wanted to see the show.

So today we left our house around 3:45 and got there just before 4. We spent about 20 minutes, with the gallery to ourselves, looking at the art work of 11 area artists.

It was nice to be able to take our time looking at the artwork without the crowds of an opening reception which is how we usually see art shows. At least for me. Sometimes Becky will go down to a gallery during the time an exhibit is displayed to check out the artwork without the crowds.

The thing about the show today that I didn't like was the video exhibit which is in this photo. There was some really obnoxious loud audio from a video installation. The video of the camp fire was interesting but that audio drove us out of the gallery.