the remaking of a kitchen

rain all day yesterday, enough to use windshield wipers and the defroster in the car. gloomy to the max. today well, it's snowing! a reminder that we cannot forget winter is going to remain for a number of weeks, possibly months!
yesterday i met up with friends for lunch at the st paul grill. lovely atmosphere, seating at a round table by the window looking out on rice park. a delightful visit with friends, some new found, others i have known for some years. it's lovely to get to know them better and value them for all that. 5 of us are artists, the other is certainly a supporter and appreciator of all things art. it's a treat to meet each month for lunch and then to sit and visit for another couple of hours.
i believe i forgot to mention that the food was delicious and the service attentive but not intrusive. a glass of prosecco and a chocolate dessert may have helped!!

Labels: friendship, lunch, rain, snow, st paul grill

sarah and david are visiting us for the holidays and are freezing. their cali blood is just not up to the cold we are experiencing! they have bankys, hot drinks, reading by the fire etc, but still they freeze!
we are having a good time.....sarah and i visited a spa and then had lunch while don and david did some mall hopping and revived themselves with lunch.
it is still darn cold, but supposedly the end as is in warmer weather is just around the corner!

Labels: freezing weather, sarah and david, snow

today started warmishly....for here. mid thirties with rain and then lowering into the twenties and freezing that rain. i decided that a full tank of gas is smarter than a nearly empty on in cold weather, and it was pretty slippery driving the short distance to the station. then there were some snow flakes, and NOW there are more. the wind is blowing, and we are much luckier than the citizens north of here. i-94 was closed at alexandria and may open in the morning. yikes.

Labels: freezing rain, snow

no pictures today. just a report of more cold cold weather and a bit of snow on the ground this morning. i cleared the driveway, but it was not necessary. since we do not like to drive on the snow and have it turn into ice....so, that won't happen today! it isn't just me, the newspaper says that this november is running 10 - 15 degrees below the norm. not hard to believe that!!
my book club met again on thursday evening, and i am going to enjoy getting to know these women. it was a tough book...."those who save us". two of the women members had family history they shared that related to the story and it was very emotional. we won't meet again until january, and the book is not chosen at this time. it's such an interesting group since the majority of the women have children in high school or college and they work full time, and most of them travel with their work. one other woman and i are retired and of course not working.

Labels: book club, cold, snow

this is ridiculous....we are getting snow again! i talked to a friend in florida today and he said, but surely the tulips are blooming. NOT. the grass isn't even green for sure. i am really tired of this weather.....it is the longest winter evahhhhhhhhh.

Labels: snow, winter

well, what can i say? this is the first of spring and our weekend treat. it may be sarah's fault after all the words about 70's etc. it's nice to have someone to blame. :)

Labels: sarah, snow, spring

well, they always say just wait a few minutes and the weather will change. this is what ours changed into today. SNOW. big flakes that are beautiful are falling....not really sticking to the ground, but still.....

Labels: snow

i know it's not really too late for snow, but it feels like it's too late for snow. we have been told to expect 2-4 inches overnight and the possibility of another 1-3 inches tomorrow. then we were told that the snow wouldn't be any closer than about 30 miles south of us. i got a call around 5 from friends about 35 miles south with whom i planned to bead tomorrow. the word was that the snow had started there and we should reschedule for next week. that was a relief as i had begun a fret routine as to whether i should attempt the drive in the morning or not.
it has been spitting snow off and on all day, and toward evening it has been coming down regularly, but not sticking to anything.....just appearing on the ground and deck as if we were receiving rain. just recently though, i noticed that the lawn is getting white. i doubt if we get the previously predicted inches, but the rain is welcome. the lawn and garden will appreciate it. we are still just in the budding phase with trees, a few protected very early bulbs are blooming and some hosta are showing points of leaves above ground. i guess it's lucky that fruit and nut trees are not blooming, and bulbs are later as they might not survive the cold weather we've been having.
all this is reminding me of a few craftsmen at regency shows that occurred on snowy weekends in april. sigh.

Labels: bulbs, hosta, snow

they have been predicting snow today, but we have had rain. i just looked out toward the deck, and it's blowing and the white stuff has appeared. i doubt if it amounts to much, but do we really need this??

Labels: snow

the two pictures are of the deck. the snow is over 12 inches deep on the seating along the perimeter.
the photo to the right is the same shot i took of the "natural sculpture" created on the evergreen shrubs along the concrete thing. they have virtually disappeared with the latest snow. need i mention that it's started snowing again???

Labels: snow

the near photo taken from inside the living room looking out the window. snow piled on the porch planter and hanging off the eaves. the next one taken from the front porch showing the snow on the shrubs and the snow plow doing its heavy duty. there was another 6 inches or so of new snow this morning.

Labels: snow

this has really been a major snow day. it started last
evening, and just kept coming down. sometimes it looked like it was slowing down or maybe even stopping, but then it would begin with vigor all over again. we have shoveled/used the snowblower 5 times today and i think we have received about 2 inches/hour at times. the last time we were out there we helped the neighbors dig out the bottom of their drive after the snowplow left its compacted gift. when we came back home, there was an inch or more in our drive so we quickly cleared the drive again before coming inside. such a deal! i tried to show the depth along the drive with these photos. the one directly below shows the depth as the front sidewalk meets the drive comparing my height with the height of the pile we created. good grief. they have told us to expect at least 14 inches from this storm! i don't think it's an exaggeration this time!
note: i attempted to post this last nite, 3-1, but blogger had an issue

Labels: snow

these sculptures are natural, but so pretty. the snow fell and was blown in and around the evergreens and they are lovely.

Labels: snow

this is the next step in snow removal. the long handled snow rake that removes the built up snow from the roof. can't have those ice dams forming!

Labels: roof, snow

these are pictures of the person using the snow blower, and the photographer was using a shovel and is not in the image. it was not easy getting the darn blower started, but once it was going things went easier. the snowplow was able to fill in the end of the drive with a HUGE mound of packed snow so it was quite a chore to clear that. winter can be such fun. we did need the moisture....we keep assuring ourselves.

Labels: snow

a couple of views from inside this time. the near one is the early clearing of snow on the front walk. the other is the overhanging snow on the front eaves with conor and ian trying to clear the drive at their house.

Labels: snow