12/22/20 – Yesterday I decided to celebrate the winter solstice by heading down to the lake with a glass of homemade black spruce cordial (see link for recipe).  Once I reached the landing I decided I might as well walk across to the western shore since it was not too windy, lightly snowing, and easy walking.  At about the halfway point I paused to take a picture of the setting sun and accidentally spilled all of the cordial onto my jacket, brand new mittens, and onto the snow covered lake (I hadn’t even taken a sip yet).  After briefly muttering a few choice words under my breath, I realized two very big silver linings.  First, I could now confirm the new mittens I had recently spent big bucks on were, as advertised, liquid proof! They hadn’t soaked up a single drop of cordial, which was more than could be said for my jacket. Second, cordial snow cones are delicious!!!  All in all the celebration was a resounding success.  -Jessica