The '09 Christmas Eve Blizzard

The rain turned to sleet yesterday afternoon and snow on into the night. Big T was closing up Tulsa Runner at 4 when a car pulled up before we could get away, a fellow who remembered he wanted to buy a running jacket for his wife. Trani did not have exactly what the fellow had in mind, but close enough, and the guy picked up some tights and a couple of other items while he was at it. In the end the man went away happy and grateful to Trani for hanging around, and we all felt good about it.

We made it home without mishap on roads that were slushy and in the process of getting treacherous and enjoyed Christmas Eve dinner — ham, candied sweet potatoes, green beans, deviled eggs, and a tasty pinot noir — then settled in for This Is a Wonderful Life, which I abandoned at the onset of the run on the bank and went upstairs to read a bit — an Icelandic mystery I picked up for the trip, The Draining Lake by Arnaldur Indridason, which has proven to be excellent reading, at once dark, suspenseful, and humorous.

Christmas morn brought the customary gift fest around the Christmas tree. We probably overdo that aspect a bit, but it is so much fun when a gift is well received, as this year with the scarf I found for Rachel, which she instantly wrapped around her neck and wore through the morning, and Robert Hughes' Barcelona for Dan.

I scored running shoes, ASICS GT-2140s, a watch, and some outerwear for winter running that I look forward to road testing. Alas, this will likely not happen until I return to Portland. Today is lovely, a white Christmas with sunshine and blue sky, but cold, very cold. Forecast for tomorrow morning is so bleak, temperature in the teens with a ferocious wind chill, that even the Tulsa Runner maniacs may forgo the 7 a.m. Saturday run from the store. For now we've set our sights on a Christmas afternoon movie, and I've set my sights on a little loop back in Portland on Monday morning — down to the Waterfront at Hawthorne Bridge, up the Eastbank to the Steel Bridge, back to Hawthorne Bridge and up through Ladd's Addition, build some character up Harrison to 34th, and home. That's not too shabby.

The morning was topped off when I turned on the computer to check email and make this blog entry and found a message from my childhood friend Mendal Bouknight. Enjoying Christmas with his wife and stepson, still he thought of Trani and me. That we remain in one another's thoughts after all these years is as nice a gift as any, as nice a gift as we could wish. Ciao.