mama mondays: effects of a winter fog

Our wintertime blahs were lifted a bit this week when our city was visited by a several-day blanketing of winter fog.

The fog created a most interesting frosted-world effect. Though frost is typically fleeting, here and gone a few hours later, this time it remained for days, growing heavier and heavier each one that passed.

But it was beautiful…magical. The kids thought it reminiscent of some children’s movies they’ve seen in which the world turns into a frosted wonderland. Think Chronicles of Narnia and the Johnny Depp version of Alice in Wonderland (The White Queen).

A couple nights ago, we were at an evening basketball tournament for our daughter, and in between games, we walked out into the parking lot and were mesmerized by further effects of the fog, enhanced by the streetlight above. It looked surreal; the light mimicking the moon, or a vessel from outer space descending, perhaps.

I love it when the seemingly ordinary corners me and says, “Look at this!” It calls to mind the line I read this weekend in the introduction by Philip Yancey in G.K. Chesterton’s Orthodoxy:

“Evil’s greatest triumph may be its success in portraying religion as an enemy of pleasure when, in fact, all the things we enjoy are the inventions of a Creator who lavished them on the world.”

This feels like one of those lavishments; a thing to delight in; an aesthetic… just cuz. (Cuz God loves us that much, that’s why!)

Speaking of delight, I was so happy to see my daughter’s team win two games of three in this weekend’s tournament after a rocky seasonal start. Both games happened later in the evening — 8 and 9:30 p.m., and the girls seem to be finally gelling as a team. We mothers have determined that our girls are simply Night Owls and play best after sundown. (My smiley girl is front right.) Here they are sporting their fifth-place medals.

And speaking of all things pleasurable, take one Rice Krispie bar, blow it up to ten times its normal size, give it to my sweet-tooth husband, mix with a Superbowl game and five kids who also like treats, and what do you have?

As I write this, the sun has melted the fog (good for travelers) and the big game is about to commence. You’ll know the results by the time this posts. I’m pretty sure that no matter who wins, my world won’t shift. But an afternoon with family makes it worth the excuse to gather round.

Have a super week ahead!

 Q4U: In what did you take pleasure over the weekend?