Snow Day, '14

If you have read this blog at all in any past winter of choice, you know I am very anti-winter. I do not like the cold, I do not like the dark and I do not like snow. Particularly when I have a day job that may require me to do something as stupid as try to drive.

So right now, we're having a snow storm of epic proportions. We don't tend to the snow -- sometimes we'll get a few inches, up to maybe 6 or 7, but that's once or twice a season at most. Right now we're getting dumped on with up to a foot of snow, and it will be followed by two days with sub zero (Farenheit) highs and wind chills. Fun, fun, fun. And then we're lining up a second storm for Wednesday through Friday, with possibly another 6 inches of snow on top of it all. Fabulous.

However, this year I work for a non-profit. They made the call to close our office tomorrow yesterday, as I was returning from the store, buying all the ingredients for a bland pain perdu, as is apparently traditional when snow storms or other bad weather strike. I'm pretty stoked, if you must know. That means I can enjoy the pretty of the snow (which it is, when viewed through a closed, properly weather-sealed window with a cup of hot chocolate in your hands) and not worry about how I'm going to survive the arctic world for which I am not prepared as I navigate the idiocy that is the morning rush hour.

I was also going to shovel the drive today so we didn't have the full foot of snow on it eventually, but my brother beat me to it. I suppose I should be, you know, nice to him or something. Of course, I managed to persuade my mother to make a carrot cake today (in addition to fresh chili), so that sort of counts.

Anywhoo. I get a free knitting day tomorrow. Today I'm doing laundry, and it's hard to sit to anything when you're popping up every 45 minutes. At least for me -- when I knit at a stretch, I like to tuck into it, you know? So when my last load is in the dryer (actually, I'll probably take a hiatus when the next load is in, the last load is my super-warm, heavy duty cotton blanket) I'll wrap up nice and warm and have a seat and knit on Mummy's Mink for a while, maybe while watching the marathon of Leverage (world's best canceled show) that's running on ION television.

So here's some pretty pictures so you can enjoy our weather along with me. Make some cocoa, grab some soft, squishy yarn and wrap up nice and warm.

I told you so.

Ok, so it's really hard to tell, but that's the same little flowery plant from yesterday's post. Winter, oh, boy, does it bite!

But not all the pictures I took on my walk today were depressing. To whit:

The snow being held in branches and on leaves was quite lovely. Looks a bit like random lace, don't you think?

Oh, yeah, and PS: The second episode of season two (The Hounds of Baskerville) was by far much better than the first. Aside from the adorable jug ears of Russel Tovey (oh, why, why, why must he catch for the wrong team for me to play with? Those ears are adorable!), the story was, to me, more enjoyable.

But this makes sense, upon reflection, because the first episode (A Scandal in Belgravia) was written by Steven Moffat, whose writing I enjoy, but not as much as I love Mark Gatiss' ability with a story -- and guess who wrote THoB? Besides, while Sherlock was a...insert derogatory term for male genitalia here in both episodes, I felt that he was under better control in the second one. Or at least, less of a massive derogatory term for male genitalia.

Both episodes were witty, urbane and kept as close to canon as a story twisted around 180 degrees and sat down on the Wicked Witch of the East can be, but I just...I dunno. Perhaps it just comes down to writer's voice. I mean, Moffat's been writing Doctor Who for the majority of the past year, and I find my liking of his stories to be more hit or miss than the episodes written by Gatiss -- who has yet, in my experience, to write an episode that doesn't actively please me. Even the episode about the little boy with the closet and phobias -- which is almost universally reviled by the online Whovian community (at least the one in the corner of the intarwebz that is Ravelry) -- made me cry a little.

It's frightening to think I share issues with some random British person, but there you have it.

More frightening for him than for me, probably.

Snow on snow

I remember singing that song in college and hating the soprano soloist for doing something I couldn't do: sing alone. I have a...well, a thing about being visible. Heck, I blog but very few readers know who I am in real life.  I don't advertise that I blog to most of my friends and family, either. I like to keep myself to myself, if you know what I mean.

Very Victorian of me, really.

Why the bleak midwinter reference? This:

Snowed like the Dickens yesterday. All day long, really. Kinda pretty, although it made me a bit sad. Why?

My poor metal flutterby! He looked so cold, particularly with the snow drifts covering his wings. I wanted to make him a little muffler, and maybe an antennae warmer or two. Don't really know why I didn't; wouldn't have taken long, would it?

So I got out my boots from last year (the boots that saw more wear in one week last January than they've seen thus far this winter) and trudged about once the snow started really falling to take pictures. Then I came in, shucked them and got myself a hot drink (cocoa, you drunks, just cocoa). When I came back, I realized what a charming picture the below made:

and got a shot. Well, all except the bag of shoes hanging next to the tree. Still and all, the tree makes me feel a bit more jolly -- which is an accomplishment, as January sucks like a Dyson. I hate winter, hate it like oatmeal, and I can't wait for spring again. January, in particular, is a hard month for me. It's the trifecta of things I hate: cold, dark and colder still. Blech.

Almost makes me long for April, despite tax season and all.

I haven't knitted in a while. I've been to hell and gone today (got up at 7:15 -- barely a Christian hour, if you ask me -- walked, did my newest volunteer gig, took my laundry to my brother's house as our washer is kaput, nabbed the children and took them to the historical society to see the exhibits -- which was cool -- and then took them home, got my mother, took her home, went out to get dinner. Ate. Logged on to blog. Feh.) I've gotten nothing done in the last day or two.

I was going to finish up the reading I need to do from last year, finish it yesterday, in fact. Then I glued 8 of my fingers together (Don't. Ask. No, really, don't ask.) It took an hour with acetone-based fingernail polish remover to stop looking like a burn victim. And I learned a very important lesson: When working with acetone, if you pour it down a sink, don't, for the love of Baby Jesus, stand over the sink and turn the water on. The acetone fumes will curl your hair. Or burn your nostril hair out, which is what happened to me. Cough, cough.

Whatever, what with de-glue-ifying my hands, I got less read yesterday than on any regular day in my life. Then today...sigh. Running all around.

The argument could be made that I shouldn't be online blogging, I should be offline, curled up in my blankets, doing my reading. I have an awful lot of it to do, you know. Perhaps I should, but I had to blog. I have to get myself back in the writing habit again. I took the holidays off (mostly because my mother drives me to distraction with the holiday hysteria, and it was just too much to ask for me to be both creative and a crutch for my mom -- besides, she's had recent bereavement this year; it was a kindness) and now I have to somehow find the willpower to get up on that pony and get going again.

To inspire me, a picture of warmer weather:

Oooh. Doncha just imagine some sort of crazed but beautiful sea witch living in that cave? What crazed but beautiful sea witch would say no to such incredible water-front property?

Not me, that's for sure.

Workin' in a coal mine, goin' down, down, down....

It's just been typing and more typing here at the desk. That and chasing Dog as he orders me around. I swear, he hates it when I sit down to type. I'm supposed to be writing for money today, but I am not feeling it. Ordinarily, I would consider this a problem, but since I have my research done, all that's left is the writing I'm not going to worry much. It's actually quite funny that I regard that as the worst part, as it generally takes less time to write the articles than do the research. Maybe I'll review my research today and write tomorrow. Granted, I'll have a long day tomorrow (volunteer obligations until 3, then writing probably until 7 or 8) but it means I'll be able to finish the hat for my aunt I'm working on. And, honestly, all I want to be doing right now is knitting. I suppose I could motivate myself by saying I can knit tomorrow if I write today, but...eh. I have to baby sit in two and a half hours, I wouldn't get as much writing done as I'd like so I'd still be writing tomorrow, and I wouldn't get to knitting until Friday, when I'm planning on playing hooky and going to the movies, instead. I can write this off in my head as time efficiency: Once I start writing, it's faster to just keep on writing than to change tasks. So I'll spend less time, overall, if I just...do all the writing in one go tomorrow and knit today.

See how good I am at explaining things away?

In other news:

Sorry, got all artsy for a minute. Snow! We have snow!

Now, I know this is hardly news as it seems everyone is getting snow if they are located in the lower 48, but, you know, it's not the most common thing around here. Typically, we only get a couple of inches per month, maybe a foot or two all told, all winter long. The snow started on Thanksgiving eve and has just...kept going. I think we've only seen the ground since the point where the snow started for maybe two weeks, all told. We're not even halfway through winter yet and already it's getting old.

Eh, whatever. Anyway, I bought my tickets for the local symphony today at their buy two get one free sale, which is actually just 1/3 off, isn't it? I've been chewing my nails waiting to have the cash all together in one place for the past week so I can get these tickets. I'll probably end up going more often, on an 'as needed' basis, but I wanted to get the sale price to make sure I get to go to these three concerts at the very least. So now I know that, if nothing else, I at least get to see the Vivaldi concert. And Beethoven and Mendelssohn, but they're just icing.

Now I just have to be patient and wait for my first concert, the 29th. That's the Beethoven. I like Beethoven. Bach is best, imho, but Beethoven is a bit of alright, too. At least they took the majority of the scheduled Mahler off the calendar--blech. I hate emo, and if Mahler is anything, he's early emo. Unfortunately, it also means that the primary reason I decided not to spend the cash renewing my season tickets in the first place is no longer--I could have renewed, kept my seat and paid less for more events. Bummer. Ah, well, we all spin the wheel of fortune and sometimes we hit the 'lose a turn' spot!

And just because it's pretty:

And also, a big thank you to my mother's friend, who gave her hash browns to my mother for Dog's enjoyment:

You'll never see this, Gertie, because no one in my family knows I blog and therefore you'll never find it, but hey. Dog loves you anyway.