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Entries in winter (102)

Sunday
Feb162014

THE winter of 2014

I love this winter. It is the winter that could. Over the past few years we’ve had mostly quitter winters. There was one year when the only time we broke out the shovels was for posterity, not for real work. And another year when we were practically picnicking on a sunny, sixty-five degree January day. But this year, this is a real winter.

When it snowed in early December we were quick to get out the sleds and the camera and make the most of it. For all we knew, and recent experience supported this hypothesis, it might have been the only snow we saw the whole season. And the dusting we had for Christmas was a beautiful cherry on top, but we still kept our expectations realistically low.

When we came home from our new years trip up north, driving through blinding, slippery snow at thirty miles an hour on the express way, and had to shovel over a foot of collected snow out of our neglected driveway, we reveled in it. We took pictures of our hard work. We braved the cold and clowned around for the camera because, really, those were the tallest snow piles we’d seen in a long time, and they were likely to be melted before week’s end. That’s January in Michigan, after all.

Except that this wasn’t any ordinary January in Michigan. This winter has far exceeded our expectations. Snow doesn’t melt when it’s negative fifteen outside. Plus...snow on snow on snow on snow. There have been times this winter when we shoveled at least once a day for a week or more. Between our drive and our neighbors’, where the strip of lawn is not very wide, there is now a four foot mesa of snow.

There are mixed views on this winter that wouldn’t quit. Many are tired of it, but you’ll hear no grumbling in our home. Although the temperatures have mostly kept us from enjoying the snow in its element, we’re enjoying it plenty from inside with blazing fires, snuggly blankets, and good books.

And a winter this unusual has all the beauty of the very rare. There have been days of bitter cold when the icy air has turned the world to a glittering land of enchantment, the trees frosty white in a deceptively yellow-orange sunlight. There have been mornings of ice fog. We have watched swirling tornadoes of snow sweep across our yard. We have joyously watched song birds take advantage of the food and ice free water we have provided them.


Of course a winter this unusual also comes with unusual challenges, and if the melting temperatures and rains predicted for next week arrive as scheduled, we may face some of the more damaging of these challenges sooner rather than later. That’s really a lot of water out there.

Tuesday
Feb112014

Time to begin…again

Obviously I have fallen away from the blog for some time. When we got back from Italy it was all I could do to get the laundry done, and I fell behind on photo editing, writing, and posting so that getting caught up became quite the job. When I finally accomplished getting caught up, which took hours on end, I soon after rewarded myself with a break, only to have that break drop me back into editing, writing, and posting debt yet again.

I have no intention of abandoning this blog. It has been up and running for about nine years now. Over that life its tone and purpose have changed many times, but it has remained true as one thing: a family journal. When we had a new baby it was a baby blog. When I had lots of time for cooking there were lots of recipe posts. When we really got into the swing of homeschooling, it tilted in that direction.  Whatever our family has been doing, the blog has been capturing it, and during that time we’ve gained followers and lost them along with the ebb and flow of my own level of dedication, like the flux in the ocean tide and equally predictable.

Right now I am back. And to avoid that terrible feeling of having to get caught up, I’m not catching up, I’m just starting over, or at least restarting. I’ll eventually go back and fill in the missing December posts to bring the 2013 365 project to completion, and, because this is at heart a family journal, there are some things to note from January as well. And the flavor of the blog may change a bit, and the stories I tell will change, as they always do, as the family they are about does, as does the world outside.

But first I’m just starting from right here, right now, on a relatively warm, double-digits (above zero) day, with feet upon feet of snow outside and two cozy dogs and a cozy little boy inside, somewhere between the start of our school day, with math and spelling, and the end of our school day, which we often mark with tea and games. It’s as good a place to begin again as any.

It's the creed of the ever hopeful...the promise to always begin again.

Monday
Dec162013

Winter recital 2013

It's that time of year again. We could tell it was recital day, in fact, because it was snowing heavily. White out conditions. We shovelled teh walk three times before we left for the recital, and took our shovels in case the recital hall was under snow. This happened one other year as well, and before that was the recital in the thunderstorm, and between them was the recital in the tornado warning. Come our recital day, southeastern Michigan better watch the weather radar.

I jest, but only slightly. It really was snowing buckets. It was beautiful. And the recital was fun, and the snow didn't keep anyone away.

Monday
Nov112013

First snow

Thursday
Feb282013

Turn that frown upside down

They were happy little snowmen yesterday...

but this is what I found when I went out for a run this morning. What terrors they must have faced during the night (in the form of above freezing temperatures).