Friday night

Blizzard! Started snowing at mid-day, 2-3" per hour. About 10" so far. It is only 11 degrees and windy. Bash and I are snug as bugs in a rug. My car is tucked into the barn for the night. I had to ram it through the snow to get in the barn since it had not been plowed yet from the last storm. This is wild to say the least. Sunday there is to be another storm. Pete and I are supposed to motor to Mass. tomorrow for an overnight at Kate's for a Christmas celebration. I hope we can go since it has been several years since I have been able to be with my family for Christmas. We are watching the storms closely to see if we will be able to get back towards home before the next storm comes in. I wish I were in Naples. It is 80 degrees there now with all the holiday celebrations. Depressing but I cannot dwell on it.

I hope come January, the winter will be gentler. I didn't work today. Apparently, many people don't take off the last day before a 2 week vacation. Now I am officially on vacation. Something I really don't want right now. But there are things that need doing. Bashey needs a grooming. I need to work out at the gym. I hope to do some cross country skiing. I still have my skiis which are 40 yrs. old. I do need some wax though. Found some at REI but like most things, it is much more expensive than it was 40 yrs. ago.

Not much more to report since being snowed in is rather boring unless you have someone to be romantic with. I will write about our weekend.

Thursday afternoon

I am back home after only working half a day in Fort Edward ES. It was a hectic morning. The classrooms there are terribly overcrowded. I don't know how the teachers do it. I just went from class to class trying to help out. It was only a half day job so I am off to the gym. I haven't been able to get there for over a week and I badly need some exercise. More pics of the storm --

You snowbirds eat your hearts out. I know you wish you were here.

Love, Lame Duck

More Snow

Here are the pics of the recent ice storm. My church is shown as well as my yard and a shot of the Hudson River. It was very beautiful with the sun out but a deadly storm. Many have died from carbon monoxide poisoning from their generators not being vented properly.

Today I turned down a half day job in Glens Falls since we had another 8" of snow on the roads and my driveway was not plowed. My car would go through the snow but I could not get out on shine hill road since the town had plowed me in. Bash and I have been doing some needed bonding while I have been baking Christmas goodies all day. It is 4 p.m. and I just sat down for a break. I am tired - Pumpernickel Bread, Sourdough English cranberry muffins, Snickers cookies, Date/coconut balls, Rum balls and chicken with rice for supper. Whew! Cupcakes will be made Friday after work. I already have a job for tomorrow in Fort Ann Elem. School as a teaching assistant in special ed. Friday, I don't know where I will be. We are supposed to get a larger snow storm then.

Saturday, Pete and I will drive to Wellsley,MA to join my family for a Christmas celebration at Kate's big house. Pete's grandson's are taking care of Bashey. We return on Sunday (another storm due in) I hope we can navigate all these storms. Dodgeing snowflakes!

I met my daughter Theresa and her son Colin for lunch in Saratoga on the weekend. I watched him play hockey with LaSalle Academy. They lost but it was great to see him. He is very tall and thin. Big boned and beautiful at 16 years. He resembles his grandfather Waite's family.

Enlarge the photos to see them fully.

More Snow

Here are the pics of the recent ice storm. It was very beautiful with the sun out but a deadly storm. Many have died from carbon monoxide poisoning from their generators not being vented properly.

Snowed in Friday

What a night! The 3rd picture was taken the other night before the big storm. I wanted to capture the mountains in the background but don't think you can make them out. I worked yesterday at Hudson Falls Elem. School as an aide for 16 kindergarten students. About 9 a.m. we began to watch the early morning rain turn to big fat snow flakes and then the accumulation began. By 1:30, we suited up and went outside to romp in it. Those with appropriate clothing made snow angels. The first few inches were very dry and fluffy and wouldn't allow any snowmen to be built. After 35 mins. we trouped back inside shedding all that wet clothing. We adults kinda figured we would not be coming back Friday. Sure enough, no school today. The main roads are always kept very well up here but the side roads and driveways are terrible. My steps and porch are a sheet of ice. The sun just peaked through for 5 mins. and lit up the icey trees. It is like magic. But very difficult to shovel or walk on since it very crusty. A foot of snow topped by an inch of ice. I am grateful my power has stayed on but many are without. My snow plower came but I called him back to plow out the barn yard. After working on my car for an hour to open the doors and scrap the thick ice off, I decided to put it in the barn. There are few cars on the roads just huge plows and pickups with plows.
I have made split pea and ham soup this morning. I hope to bake some bread or english muffins this afternoon. I would like to go to the gym but don't dare drive. It is now in the 20's so everything is frozen.

We are safe and tucked in for a long weekend. The following is a message that I focus on constantly and I hope you find it helpful as well.

You must trust me wholly. This lesson must be learned. Doubt always delays. Are you trusting all to me or not? From Two Listeners

Snowy Sunday

Bashey and I both sat up straight in bed just before dawn this morning when the snowplow went through. A very loud scraping sound totally unfamiliar to us. I am amazed that the County plows when there is just a dusting of snow on the roads. It seems like a waste of tax-payer money. It wouldn't hurt people to slow down, drive through the little snow on the roads and have the plows wait until there was heavier accumulation. But this area is known for keeping the roads open.

the birds have been eating voraciously for the last two days so I suspected there was a storm coming. I also have a fat red squirrel (hawk food)who runs a zig-zag pattern across the lawn from the evergreen hedgerow. He goes as fast as he can to avoid the hawk. He climbs inside my feeders and eats until he can barely climb out. My feelings will not be hurt when he evolves to be food for hawk. I was pleased to see the large red-bellied woodpecker at the feeder this morning. they were here all summer but I hadn't seen them in a long while.

Yesterday, as I walked Bash in my yard, my ankles kept turning over and it was difficult walking. I realized I was walking on frozen ground for the first time in 22 years. Certainly Virginia and North Carolina have some freezing temps, snow and ice but the ground really never freezes. If it does, it is just a surface freezing. The Earth remains warmer. Not here in the north country. We are frozen tundra.

Sebastian likes the cold temps and the snow. He has very long thick fur right now. I want to have him shampooed and trimmed but haven't been able to do so yet. When I do, I may have to provide him with a jacket. He is right now cuddled on the sofa on his blanket sound asleep. He looks like an oversize whitish mop with a large black nose.

The snow falls and the darkness deepens as we roll on to the winter solstice in a couple of weeks. I wish you Light and warmth, music and dancing.

Wednesday night

Faith Hill is singing Joy To The World at Rockefeller Ctr.in NYC for the lighting of the Christmas Tree. A lovely touch at a time when many are depressed. I love much of this time of year but the pressure of gifts for everyone on my list is daunting and nerve wracking. Once again, I just don't have the money. This year many have joined me on this weary path. I will bake and make kissing balls but I will not put Christmas gifts for the 26 people on my list on my credit card. I enjoy giving gifts to those I love and cherish memories of years past when money was freely there
to buy or sew a gift for everyone in my family. It seems people have given up on the special gifts of Christmas such as sending greeting cards, baking cookies and making candies to purchase large expensive gifts for a few people in their family and for themselves. Christmas has become an excuse to purchase that expensive item. The real reason for the season is no longer clear. I have a hand full of rustic hand painted wooden ornaments for the tree that I was able to salvage from the floods of my home in NC in '98. They remind me of a time many years ago, 1972 actually, when my children and I were alone for our first Christmas. We didn't have any extra money then for decorations. The kids painted the wooden cutout ornaments, strung popcorn, cranberries and made paper chains for our tree that year. I hang these few old ornaments each year to remind me of where we have come from.

I have been working all week long in the Glens Falls schools. The work is steady but not terribly creative or challenging. It just is and I remain grateful to have it. Many of the little children have much pain in their lives. Their bravery and stoicism is impressive. I want to gather them all around me to love and protect them like a mother hen and her chicks. But touching is frowned upon in these times. I am sad for them and frustrated by the society of fear we have created.

Now I listen to David Cook singing Happy Christmas. Beautiful words. Double click on the photos to enlarge.

May you be blessed where you are....