Snow!

I didn't know it was supposed to snow today although I expected some weather-related excitement when there was a little graphic in the corner of the TV screen last night scrolling through county names listing "Winter Weather Advisory" for some and "Winter Weather Warning" for others.  I never know which is worse but this time we got the less bad end of that stick.  First good thing, it generally has to get warmer than zero to snow.  Second good thing, we only got about 3 inches of fluffy snow.  Third good thing, the roads weren't too slippery when we had to go out for Durwood's two (2!) doctor's appointments today.  Fourth good thing, most people were taking their time and driving sanely.  The only bad thing is in order for it to get warmer and for it to snow, clouds have to come and obscure the blue sky and the sunshine so Barbara gets grumpy and sad when it isn't sunny.  Four to one is pretty good odds, no?

 

At breakfast the last morning of my writing weekend the organizer had a gift for each participant.  Her niece who is a potter made a little amulet for each of us with a flying bird on it.  The bird is flying upwards striving for the heights.  I've hung mine on my dresser mirror so I see it when I'm dressing in the morning to remind me to keep striving to improve--my writing, my attitude, my resolve not to assume ownership of other people's problems.  That little bird is saying, "You're not responsible for fixing everyone, Barbara" to me.  At least I'm imagining that it is.



(note to self:  make sure that the lid of your desk-side water bottle is screwed on tight so you quit dribbling water down your left side every time you take a drink)





Want to see a knitting trick?  I know I haven't shown you the dishcloth I got in the Bay Lakes Knitting Guild December meeting swap.  The president of the guild read a story with many mentions of "right" and "left."  Each time one of those words was said we passed whichever dishcloth we had at the moment in that direction.  (the funny thing was if there'd been just one more "right" we'd have all gotten our own cloths back)  This is the one I ended up with.  Pretty green and white stripes if you look straight down at it.  But look what happens when you look at it at an angle.  Ta-da!  A pine tree.  It's called shadow knitting.  Pretty cool, huh?



January 15--Yuana, Green Iguana.  They look like miniature dragons or dinosaurs with the spikes along their spines and their assumption that they are masters of all they survey.  Their calculating golden eyes swivel to keep you in sight and to catch any appetizing moth or insect that comes too near.

That's all she wrote last night.  I fell asleep less than 5 minutes into my bedtime guided meditation.  I must have been really tired.  If I'm lucky it'll stop snowing soon so I don't have to go out and shovel the driveway again but I'm not holding my breath.  Time to dig around to see what's available for supper.  Hmm, lentils & rice?  Leftover pork chops?  Maybe Durwood and I will negotiate and both get what we want.  
--Barbara