snow day

Here in NJ we are in the midst of a "Winterblast"," Snowicane" or less sensationally. snow. Lots of snow...it has been snowing constantly for two days and we have a foot of fresh snow on top of the remains of last weeks snowfall- about 6 inches of a sloppy mess. It's pretty , and unfortunately for civilisation as it exists here, incovenient. And yes, it makes travel difficult and at times dangerous. But only IF you need to go somewhere.
Fortunately we don't. However the Breadwinner is in London and is due to fly home tomorrow. We are crossing our fingers that he doesn't get delayed.

We are on day 2 of school Snow Day, so a 4 day weekend.
The Bear , Boo and Yum Yum went out to play in this white fantasy. It took at least 30 minutes to get everyone dressed. Yum Yum lasted about 5 minutes. Bear and Boo went on a snow trek around the house and then played in it on our deck. Now everyone is back inside resuming couch potato and computer game positions. And I have a big pile of wet gear.

Life is so much easier in summer, keep the doors open, in, out all day long, and Tinky is a much happier cat. Being cooped up inside during winter means that the house gets trashed, we eat too many snacks and watch too much TV. We have missed our ballet and swimming classes.

The worst thing that could happen is that we lose power or needed a doctor in a hurry. If we lose power we lose heat, water (we have a well with an electric pump) and internet (that would be terrible). I wouldn't be able to open the garage door. I'd have to build a fire in a room with a catherdral ceiling to keep my family warm and we would eat peanut butter. At least the food wouldn't spoil because that can go in the snow. I've not tried flushing a toilet with snow- I guess the pipes would eventually freeze - Eeew. With wet sticky snow building up on trees, the trees tend to fall down. Why oh why they don't put the electricity cables underground I don't understand! It's not as if they don't know how- our street is all underground power. So instead every time there is a storm we lose power and peolpe have to risk their lives in the weather to restore it and at other times to continually prune the trees that pose a risk. We are talking big trees- oaks and pines. For those unused to living with snow, I have to shovel our front path so that visitors can make it to our front door. We have someone plough the snow from our driveway and the streets are ploughed (and salted) by the township. We don't have sidewalks so we don't have that responsibility. Mind you I'd rather clean sidewalks than not have the sidewalks but that's a different gripe,

And in order to maintain mail service I must dig out the mailbox so that our friendly mailman can access it in his special little truck and if I don't the friendly mailman leaves terse warnings in my mailbox. Sleet yes, snow no. Since all the snow from the road is piled up alongside the road, it's a little more difficult than you might think. We have our cars in the garage so we don't have to dig them out... not sure why people here rather fill their garages up with junk and leave their cars out in the snow. Headshake over that one.

But I am making mountains out of mole hills here... I don't have it hard. Not at all. Snow here is at about the right frequency to be fun and I suspect all the NJ griping is because they just needed a new thing to gripe about. It's the length of the winter I object to!

All this cabin fever is putting me in a mood to

MAKE something.

Not sure what but something! I started a pair of little pillows for Boo & Yum Yum..but not feeling like hand stitching just yet. I have used Heat n Bond to attach details to little house shapes.

And I'm so excited that I am signed up to do Rachel & Peta's online digital photography course in April. I'll be installing photoshop Elements soon and figuring out how to access the thousands of images from the past 5 years that I have on the hard drive. Hopefully you will see the results of these efforts in the near future. I also have bookmarked a lot to read about privacy/security...


So keep warm, or keep cool, just keep it real!

Edited to add , this is the 6th winter we have had here... looking out at snow falling from inside a cosy house at Christmas time just NEVER gets old. A sunny blue sky and sparkly white snow is glorious. Slushy muddy muck and 5 months of cold, so over it.