Monday, January 31, 2011

January 31 2011




I barely finished taking pictures of the icicles already hung from every eave on the house before we began getting the media blitz about the NEXT storm, coming a few hours from now. Our eighth since Christmas, each successive one has been billed as the worst - but this one, covering over twenty states and theoretically affecting millions, even looks scary on the maps. So once again we check the generator fuel levels, put extra wood on the porch for the woodstove, make a large pot of soup, and wait. My planned trip to visit Mom, which was supposed to begin tomorrow, has been set back a week as all the airlines agree this is no time to be charging for travel changes, and are encouraging anyone (like me) who doesn't absolutely have to be somewhere to just stay home. I'm disappointed at the delay, but Mother Nature will always trump any plans I make if She's determined enough. Snowmageddon is coming!



As you can see from these photos, it's not as if we need any more snow hereabouts. But it's coming anyway, perhaps another foot, and with the promise of three or four inches of ice by Wednesday, I thought I'd take advantage of the late night calm (before the storm!) to post this. It may be that, if the ice actually is as bad as predicted, we'll be on generator power for a while, and unfortunately that does not include the computer.


Unlike me, Sadie loves the snow, whether to bounce around in, or eat - and she eats snow like I go through a box of chocolates! She continues to be such a joy in the house, nuzzling us for pets, waiting patiently until I'm ready in the morning to let her out, and being generally adorable. It's been five months since we broke her out of doggie jail, and I've yet to have a serious inquiry about adopting her. I'm surprised, as this is the longest I've ever had a foster dog - good thing she is so undemanding, with the winter as brutal as this one has been, even standing in the glassed in porch waiting for her to come in from the dog run is bone-chilling. And having fallen on my fortunately padded derriere last week on my way to the mailbox, I am increasingly leery of ice and consistently weary of snow! Spring will be extra welcome this year, surely.

I did manage to get in all four January classes for my band of hearty calligraphers. In fact, one of them took this photo of me and Sadie, as she now happily bounds down the formerly scary stairway to get her after class petting and socialization.
We were all pretty surprised that although most of the month was cold and terrible for travel, our Thursday nights were clear and everyone got here and back home with no problem. We are now on our third alphabet, Sixteenth Century Tudor, and the women are just as enthusiastic and dedicated as when we began to work together last March. What luck for me to find four other people who will trek through feet of snow for the joys of calligraphy! No photos yet, but when I get back from my trip and we reconvene, I should have some interesting things to share. I'm insisting that they all try to do a circular layout this time, and it is much more challenging than the others they've done. But isn't that what good teaching is about, challenging the students? We all long for warmer weather when we can treat ourselves to well-deserved ice cream at the Pine Bush local place after class. Surely spring will come eventually - even in this deep freeze I can still see the hopeful buds on the trees and shrubs. I just wish I shared their optimism - and faith!

No other news of note here, weather obsession, calligraphy and dogdom pretty much covers it for me. More when the season changes!