A Gift of Snow

Today the snowflakes FINALLY fell for real in Missouri. It's been such a long, gray winter and we were about to lose hope of seeing ANY of the white stuff. However, today it arrived. It made one little 4 year old person VERY happy!

Syd is staying with us for a 3 day visit and she and I headed out into the white stuff just as soon as the grass was covered. We slid down the neighbor's hill, rolled in the snow, threw it at each other, and made the mandatory snow angels. She giggled the entire time and I have to admit, so did I! What is it about the magical combination of cold air and water that can make us drop our stress levels and just act like a kid? I don't know... but I am not about to question this wonder of meteorology! For a February snowfall- this was just right! Thank-you God - and any of your assisting snow angels as well!

You get an Inch... You Slide a MILE!

Syd came over to play on the sled this morning. Our next door neighbor has a modest hill in his yard that has become the "orientation to sledding" hill for the newest generation of intrepid snowbunnies! (It seems like yesterday this was Gret and Katrina! In fact, we think our sled might be close to 30 years old!) Here's a collection of shots of all the fun a little snow can bring!

Another Snow Day and a Birthday

The "massive" snowfall that resulted in our "snow day"!

To quote an old family bit of wisdom.... "That's ice!!!! That's ice!!!!"

We're at home again today... the phone rang at 6:15 (as the sleet was falling) to tell us that we would not have school. While snow days are one of the so-called "perks" of teaching, we are now into the "make them up" phase since our school saw fit to only build one day into the actual calendar and today marks our third snow day. The funny part is that I am almost embarrassed to have such a day. If you've ever looked at my daughter Kate's blog, you will see that Sheyboygan is up to their heineys in snow... they have piles and piles of it EVERYWHERE. My grandson has gotten very few days off even with all the white stuff. But pictured here is what constitutes "snow day" level precip for St. Charles... we are total snow wimps!

Perfect "Snow Day" fare... Homemade Corn chowder!

Happy birthday Ed! You only get better!

On the upside, today is Ed's birthday... and a special one too... his "star" birthday of a sorts... born in '54, today he turns 54. So he got a day off as a gift. True to form, he decided to cook something new for his birthday.... so we will be enjoying a delicious corn and pasta chowder and two of his own homemade French-style baguettes for lunch! The guy just gets more and more talented at the stove as each year goes by!

That brings me to the final thing on my post for today.... and I owe this to my daughter Kate. Thanks to all of Ed's great cooking (and to my total enjoyment of the results)... there is much more of me to celebrate his birthday than I really care to admit. Katrina had the idea to post her weight goals on her blog and ask that her readers help her "stay on track". It struck me as a marvelous idea. (possibly because I don't have all that many readers who will be motivated to guilt me into working out....) but anyway.... I have much more weight to lose than Kate does.... and thought that perhaps just seeing it staring me down when I open my blog will motivate me to hop on the treadmill a bit more frequently. So it's up there..... and I would greatly appreciate a gentle and loving nudge from any of you who notice my numbers stuck in one place for too long! And on that note.... Have a Nice Snow Day wherever you are!

Winter in the Vineyard

There's nothing quite so eerie and beautiful at the same time as snow in the vineyard. There's a hushed coldness to the sleeping vines that makes them so strange and lovely all at the same time.
I keep thinking of that poem by Robert Frost about the orchard sleeping... called "Good-by and Keep Cold"



GOOD-BY AND KEEP COLD
This saying good-by on the edge of the dark
And the cold to an orchard so young in the bark
Reminds me of all that can happen to harm
An orchard away at the end of the farm
All winter, cut off by a hill from the house.
I don't want it girdled by rabbit and mouse,
I don't want it dreamily nibbled for browse
By deer, and I don't want it budded by grouse.
(If cetain it wouldn't be idle to call
I'd summon grouse, rabbit, and deer to the wall
And warn them away with a stick for a gun.)
I don't want it stirred by the heat of the sun.
(We made it secure against being, I hope,
By setting it out on a northerly slope.)
No orchard's the worse for the wintriest storm;
But one thing about it, it mustn't get warm.
"How often already you've had to be told,
Keep cold, young orchard. Good-by and keep cold.
Dread fifty above more than fifty below."
I have to be gone for a season or so.
My business awhile is with different trees,
Less carefully nurtured, less fruitful than these,
And such as is done to their wood with an ax--
Maples and birches and tamaracks.
I wish I could promise to lie in the night
And think of an orchard's arboreal plight
When slowly (and nobody comes with a light)
Its heart sinks lower under the sod.
But something has to be left to God.
~Robert Frost

Just another snowy night in St. Charles

This blog comes to you as the snow/sleet is gently tapping on my office window. We just received that most magical of phone calls, "There's no school tomorrow!" Ahhhh, the joys of being a teacher in Missouri where the fear of the weather produces days of freedom! Today, we had rain which by mid-day was freezing... by noon less than half of our student body was at school. Pretty amazing! As a kid who grew up and attended school in Detroit, I find all this hoopla pretty incredible. In 18 years of life, I never saw a single snow day.... perhaps this is another sign of how life is different today than in the "old days!"

So enjoy the photos of my grandsons.... Gabe is in a superhero mode right now. I think he'd live in these Spiderman jammies if he could. Both shots were taken while the boys stayed with us in November.

Let it Snow, Let it Snow!

Today is the first day of Spring... really! And yes, Ed & I are home enjoying our first snow day of the now past winter season! Gotta love Missouri! Strange and exciting weather. And only this state would let approx. 1.5" of snow result in area wide school closings. Not that I am complaining, mind you; it's wonderful to get the gift of a Tuesday all your very own! But when you see how much snow actually was on the ground, you have to chuckle. So put your feet up, keep the fireplace blazing, it's a SNOW DAY! It's good to be a teacher!

Still no snow day!

Here it is the day before Valentine's Day and we still have had no substantial snowfall this winter! It feels so unfair. Seriously, when one becomes a teacher, one expects their fair allotment of snowdays. Alas! But I guess I should feel lucky since New York got 27'' on Saturday and didn't call a snowday today either!

Well, the Winter One-Acts a.k.a. Comedy Cafe came off without a hitch at LHS this past Friday and Saturday. Thus, I complete my 17 year stint as director of LHS theater. While the weekend was full of mixed emotions on that score, it's a good decision for me. I am ready to explore new things and find some time for myself as well.

Bigger news, Ed was contacted by the local Democratic committee about being their candidate for a run at the State Legislature come next November. We talked, and I think he's going to do it. Should be interesting to catch the reactions of longtime Republican friends.

All in all, an interesting weekend!