now this is winter

In normal Tom and Anna fashion, we took a little road trip to bring in the new year with some excellent friends from Peace Corps Bolivia up in northern Minnesota. It was a grand reunion.

Nine of us came from all over the country (Alaska, Cali, VA, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, and Florida) to convene at Britta's familiy's cabin on Leech Lake, where we spent four days playing in the snow, talking by the fire, smoking the hookah, dancing, singing, drinking, and hugging -all those wholesome things peace corps volunteers do.

There was a foot and a half of snow on the ground, and an enormous frozen lake to play on. A true winter playground. The temperature got up to around zero degrees most days. At night it went down to negative twenty or thirty. Which was chilly. But we bundled up and had a blast outside. And in.

Tom and George playing uno at the picnic table.

Naya and her pretty, frozen lashes.

Britta with Paul Bunyon's girlfriend there in the background. Nice girl, kind of big, but real friendly.

Me and Emily tucked in after a cold night hike.

george, jacky, inflatable small snowman, tom, inflatable big snowman, and inflatable smaller snowman.

Out on the lake. Too snowy to skate on, but perfect for the hat game.

In the hat game, played by two people, there is a hat on the ground, and the goal of the game is to get your opponoent to touch the hat. No other rules. Lots of snow in the face. Very fun.

This is Chapare, Emily's dog which she brought home from her site in the hot desert of Bolivia. Despite his climactic upbringing, he was a champion in the snow.

Me and Tom. Just plain happy.

representing bolivia. The flag on the left is Bolivia's national flag. the flag on the right is called a wipala, the flag of the indiginous tribes of the Andes.

Ben, pant sledding.

family photo by the fireplace.

It wouldn't be a party without Charlotte McGurgle, our trusty hookah.

that's tiffany. ben pushed her over.



What a fine way to bring in the new year. It was wonderful to be amongst our close friends from Bolivia, to talk about all we're going through in life, how it's been being back home, what each of us is loving and hating and grateful for and missing. I miss those peeps. We made some really amazing friends down there.

For new years, we turned over all the clocks, turned off our phones, and took off our watches. Instead of celebrating a short moment, we all took turns throughout the night leading everyone through whatever sort of moment we felt called to -group hugs, sharing things to be thankful for, dance-offs, backrubs, projections at where we'll be a year from now -man, what a bunch of hippies. I loved every minute of it.

And Ben, it's true, your french toast is the best.