And Now It's Snowing

Last week we had the deepest of deep freezes, so deep that they cancelled school for three days in a row and I don't remember that EVER happening before.  No, really, two days for a huge blizzard but three?  Never.  So we survived that and then it warmed up to rain, then freeze into a not-so-thin film of ice to slick up all the roads and driveways.  Sunday it warmed up enough to thaw and melt (helped with lots of ice-melt salt) and yesterday the plow came down our street and shoved all the heavy, wet slush into a long pile at the end of the driveway.  I shoved it aside as best I could when I got home from work last night, not perfect but not a frozen mound to drive over.  This morning it's just starting to snow and there's no wind.  That's supposed to change tout suite.  They're threatening us with 3-5 inches of snow and 20-30 mph

winds today.  (Pete Petoniak just said 7-9 inches of snow today--oh brother, we're doomed) And I get to work today while Mrs. Boss goes on the ski bus.  Woohoo.  It'll probably be not too bad that I'm working because I want to go to yoga at 5:30 so it'll sorta be on my way home.  That's better than driving across town in rush hour traffic, leaving my warm, safe home to go twist myself around.  (have to remember to pack my yoga pants in my backpack)  Living in the Upper Midwest is such a treat some days.  And the oncoming weather front is making my knees ache like a toothache.  Goodie.

I had every intention of making great strides on Strawberry & Black Glove #2 at work yesterday but I just couldn't focus on it.  I got past the thumb gusset and have about an inch more to knit before I start the fingers.  (maybe.  I'd better use glove #1 to make sure they're identical, or at least distantly related.)  Last night after supper I cast on a "technique" swatch for my Bay Lakes Knitting Guild design contest entry.  (because I can't just have one project OTN at a time)  I saw something that I've never seen before, a cable technique, so I'm working the first 30 rows or so of that pattern to see how it's done.  It's very odd doing all this groundwork for a little knitting thing; I usually just pick up needles and yarn and DIVE IN.  What has come over me?  Plus the design and sample isn't due until April, so I'm planning and working more than 24 hours ahead of the deadline.  Who am I?

When I left work last night after 6 PM it was full dark and I looked up as I got into the car and saw the Winter Moon shining through the bare branches of the neighbor's tree.  And I kind of got a decent picture (that smoke at the bottom is my breath).  Pretty, don't you think?

January 14--Turkish, Ottoman Period, Helmet.  It was so heavy that Lily was sure her neck wouldn't hold her head up.  The crown looked like gold but felt as heavy as lead pressing into her scalp.  In a moment of insanity she was certain it was making dents in her skull, but it wasn't.  She wasn't the first person to wear the thing and wouldn't be the last.  Her dress wasn't much lighter.  It was made of miles of deep blue velvet with a train lined in satin so it slid easily but it trailed behind her for at least ten feet.  She felt the weight of the gown and the train and the cloak attached at the shoulders like an ox yoked to a plow.  She imagined herself dragging the expectations of the country, maybe the continent, or even the universe behind her.  Some clothes made her feel free, these clothes felt like chains.

Okay, it's snowing harder now and it's even a bit lighter out there.  Better get a move on.  Oh, here's an LC picture.  I love when she's looking at me all wide-eyed, then her eyes roll back in her head, and her eyes close in sleep, like I'm way too boring to even bear.  She's endlessly fascinating, kind of like when our kids were little but with more sleep and less poop.
--Barbara