• Friday-What'sUP January 19 - 02:05 am

The Copper Country has often been referred to as a "Winter Wonderland" and if I remember correctly, the Michigan license plate even had that slogan on them way back when. I think Judy Byykkonen has captured the inspiration for the slogan with this picture of the Traprock River all covered in white. Kind of looks like someone sprinkled powdered sugar over the whole scene.

Temps have been pretty moderate this winter, but the forecast for this weekend is c-c-c-o-l-d! Looks like any open river water may finish freezing over this weekend.

Thanks for the great picture! It's going to be c-c-c-o-l-d down here in troll land, too, this weekend.

Come to think of it, the plunging temps have been accompanied by a plunging stock market, too. Wonder if there has been a historical correlation?

What a beautiful picture. I wonder if anyone else out there in
Pastyland learned this poem in school. I learned it as a song in
kindergarden back in the (blush) 50s.


There's snow on everything I see
On every bush, on every tree.
It's such a very lovely sight
Like birthday cake with frosting white.

The pic is a beauty, Judy. Keep 'em coming.

Ahh, yes. Winter is back here, in spades. It will be quite cold here in mid-Michigan this weekend (below zero at night, days less than 10 degrees! Maybe some homemade bread and hot chocolate, or something, might take the chill out of the air, inside, at least? Or maybe even some homemade pizza this weekend? Thanks for the picture, Judy B and Mary. Happy Friday, Everyone!

Fantastic photo this morning!

A very serene picture to end the work week with! Even tho I have today off to make a 3 day weekend!

mmmmmmmmmmmmm........powdered sugar donuts with frosting.....
Mr. Deb

What a great picture of the Traprock. My dad fished that river so many times while I was growing up. He'd get dropped off at one bridge, and get picked up at another. I think he usually got picked up at Sullivan's if anybody knows where that is. He always loved that river. It's even pretty in the winter.

I think homemade bread made into toast with a big cup of hot chocolate will be just what the doctor ordered this weeekend. BRRRRRRRR!!!!!

Lovely photo, but it makes my toes feel even colder! How about a nice pot of homemade chicken soup? I have a great recipe for that: you cut up boneless chicken thighs, dredge them in flour and brown them in hot oil, then make soup in the same pan. It thickens the broth nicely. Add lots of veggies including peas, carrots, celery and onions, and flavor with discrete amounts of thyme, pepper and rosemary. Finish the soup with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice. Guaranteed to chase off the mid-winter blues, like in blue noses, blue fingers, blue toes, blue moods...

Beautiful picture! I love the snow all over the trees.

Therese: do you deliver?

My winter blues are due to having dead grass & mud with a dusting of snow in patches instead of the beautiful scene in today's picture. Ya can't ski on that, & it's visually unappealing. I don't mind cold; if we had powder snow, the forecasted temperatures would keep the snow nice.

Note it's not only weirdo ski bums like myself that could use snow. Ground cover plants would be protected from the dry air and the cold if there was snow cover; it's warmer under there than the single digit air temperatures.

Got a bucket of snow out here in Western Colorado; Even the big trucks are stranded in spots! Great shot of a wonderful little river!!! I think today's agenda will be to crank up the oven and build a couple dozen pasties, to warm the house and the heart. Great day all, and... GO PACKERS!

You can have your hot chocolate but I want my good hot P_A_S_T_Y that really makes the day.

Hey, Frank, I don't deliver, but you can come and get one to go. Fifty miles after you cross the Continental Divide, on US 40, take a left, and I'm the last house on the left. (Or is that the second star on the right, and straight on til morning...?)

Made me a pot of onion soup for lunch with acini di pepe(frog-eye pasta). Burned my tongue tasting tho, ouch. Goooood.

Made a big batch of Glogg, it warms the cockles of your heart. Comin' over Uncle Chuck?

Nice pic. Yes this weekend is gonna be B-r-r-r-r cold!! Nice time to hibernate as I am already sick grr.

Hehe RD thats a thought...I don't know but maybe there is some kind of connection between the 2. Never know what you find out if you start digging up history!

GO PACK GO!!!

go anybody but the limberger cheese heads go tom brady who played for michigan our home state

Let's do it Snowman, by the way, what is Glogg? I'll try most things once, twice if I like it! Live it up Snowman!

Marianne Y (Marianne)
Just wondering ... if you are a "true" Yooper (which I am not ... but Husband is) is mid-Michigan at the Mackinac Bridge??? Hubby always says that he doesn't even consider it "going up north" UNLESS HE CROSSES THE MIGHTY MAC!!!

Cindymay, I am going by what our three local major TV stations call "mid-Michigan", which is the Saginaw Valley. By the way, to a lot of people, the Saginaw Valley is "up north". My youngest son said that he has friends in Illinois who know where mid-Michigan is, ie the Saginaw-Bay City-Midland area. :-)

Marianne Y (Marianne)
To continue the story ... I used to work in Utica and one day a delivery driver came in and said he was going hunting "UP NORTH" that weekend. I being nosy (and/or cordial depending on your mind set,) I asked "where to???" And (I just love his answer ... ) He said "Dryden!!!" I then had to tell him that I lived closer to Dryden then I did Utica!!! I guess that "up north" is just a state of mind ... and has absolutely nothing to do with geography.
Technically I think they consider where I live now as 'mid-MI' but I think I live in nowhere's ville. Since most of the time I'm too far north for the Detroit news stations to cover my news/weather ... and too far south for mid-MI stations to do the same. Unless of course you should have a tornado drop by.
Cindy

Here's my secret Glogg recipe Uncle Chuck;

2 bottles Red wine (Cabernet/Burgundy)
1.75 L Vodka
20 Cardamom pods
10 Cloves
2 sticks Cinnamon bark
1 piece Orange peel
1 1/2 cup blanched whole Almond
1 1/2 cup Raisins
10 dried Figs
1 lb Sugar lump
Mixing instructions:
Pour the wine & vodka into a large pot. Add spices, fruit and nuts. Turn on the heat and bring the ingredients to a temperature just below the boil. Now for the fun part. Invite all of your guests into the kitchen. Place the sugar cubes in a sieve (one that you don't mind sacrificing to the greater good). Don oven mitts and set the glogg on fire. Ladle the burning glogg over the sugar cubes until it has all melted. I usually do this with the overhead lights off for greater theatrics. When the sugar is melted, cover the pot to extinguish the flame. Ladle glogg, fruit and nuts into irish coffe cups and serve.

Enjoy!

To actually be "UP north", of course you have to cross the Mackinac bridge because that is the Upper Peninsula, therefore being "UP north". My hubby says St. Ignace is just the upper part of the LP. LOL Therefore, you have to go to the Copper Country.

OH yeah, I forgot, Walter----I'm with you!!!