A Matter of Degrees

It is 8 degrees out right now (feels like -5). Tonight the wind chills will be 20 below zero. The high predicted for Monday will be -4. I don't even want to think about what that night will bring. It's winter, and I'm whining.

Years ago I made a deal with myself that I would only complain about one season. Winter is it. It can be 106 with 80% humidity and I won't say a word. But -4 is some kind of ungodly number. I feel bad for the birds I watch out the window. I'd invite them in if I could. I'm not sure how the rest of the animal kingdom is doing it.

Me, I'm hermiting. I didn't leave the house yesterday. I'm not planning to leave the house tonight. I'll go home, change into sweatpants, put on my slippers, and curl up under a blanket. And all that in a warm house. For the last three days, this has been my routine. New Year's Eve was cold, so we stayed in. Yesterday was barely 10, so we stayed in. And tonight we'll stay in.

I know I've grown up here. I should be used to this kind of weather. And in some ways I am. I can deal with the cold. I just don't want to.

April Showers Bring...May Snow?

It snowed all day Thursday and Friday, May 2nd and 3rd. I've never seen snow in May. In all my years I don't remember a single day in May that had snow. Except this year. Most of the midwest got hit with snow. My poor brother and his family got socked with a full foot of snow. They lost their tree. For the first day it hardly collected. And the next day it wouldn't stop.

I covered my strawberries in the hope that they would survive the snow and cold, which they did. In fact they look better than I've ever seen them, big and tall and ready to send out berries. I improvised on the covering, (an old storage box) which worked beautifully. It was windy enough to blow the container away so I placed a frozen bottle of water on top for some added weight.

When the snow came I loved the way the grass looked. The bright green grass and the pure white snow was lovely. So I took pictures. And didn't mind the snow on Thursday. It was Friday that bothered me. I saw the results of a head-on collision on my way to the office that morning. Someone had been going too fast and wasn't able to keep traction on the curve. Both cars suffered but thankfully there didn't appear to be injuries.

It was slick going in that day. The pretty green grass was gone, under a blanket of white. The snow continued all day. The ground was slick and slushy, the snow was often intense, and the wind never let up the whole day. It was cold and horrible. And I just kept thinking how it was May, and it shouldn't be snowing. I called Jeff on my way home from work on Friday to complain, but he was in too good a mood for that. He laughed and told me he "made me something". But he wouldn't tell me what it was. It was only when I pulled in that I found this guy.

I guess it was perfect packing snow. It took Jeff 20 minutes to make him. I love the frown on his face. As soon as I saw him I lit up. I couldn't stop smiling. The embodiment of winter in the middle of May. He was gone by mid-day today. The rain has brought him low. But for a moment I was smiling and happy in the middle of the spring chill. Clearly Mr. Snowman was not.

Snow Cream

I can't remember if I've posted this recipe before but it's so good that it's worth posting again.

On Monday the weather stations were reporting that we would get 1 to 3 inches of snow on Tuesday. In the Midwest that's certainly not enough snow to cancel school over or really to take seriously. So I wasn't worried about it. When I went to leave for work Tuesday morning it was just starting to come down. I still wasn't thinking hard about it. But 10 minutes into my commute, when I could hardly see the stoplight a block away I was starting to think that it might be something more. By the time we had two inches on the ground they had changed the forecast. Now it was 3 to 6. Still not bad. By noon it was 5 to 9. And the snow kept coming.

The snow finally stopped at about noon today. We had over 24 hours of snow and ended up with about...11 inches. A far cry from 1 to 3 inches don't you think. When I would look at the radar there was Des Moines, right in the middle of swirling vortex of snow. Even worse, the storm was shifting mostly west. Storms that come from the east are never good. What I'm saying is that it's been a frustrating couple of days. At least for a snow/winter hater like me.

The one good thing to come out of the snow was that we finally got a chance to make snow cream. Jeff introduced me to snow cream when we were first dating and since then I've been a fan. We didn't have enough snow last year for any but most years we have at least one snow that is perfect for the recipe. You need a wetter snow, preferably big flakes. Dry snow won't work.

Set a soup pot outside during a big snow storm. You'll want it at least half full of snow. Then add 2 eggs (raw), 1 cup sugar (at least), 1/2 cup milk, and 2 tsp vanilla. Stir together until snow has a beautiful  pale yellow color. Spoon into bowls and eat immediately. It's sugary sweet goodness, even better than ice cream.

For those of you who are panicking about the raw eggs right now, this dish might not be for you. I'm a long time eater of cookie dough with raw eggs, so this doesn't even phase me. One of these years I might get Salmonella from them. But until I do, I'll still continue to eat raw eggs in my sweet treats.

Playing with Pictures

For my birthday this past year I asked for a camera I could carry around in my pocket. As I'm still technologically backwards when it comes to phones, I don't have anything on me that would take pictures that I could then download. My poor ancient cell phone takes pictures but has no way to transfer them. So I wanted a small camera that still took good photos.

My parents bought me the Canon Elph 530HS. I honestly can't remember a birthday present I'm more excited about. I find that I'm taking pictures of things just for the sake of playing with it. This camera has a number of setting that allow me to take tilt-shift photos, fisheye photos, and other gimmicky shots. It also offers video and slow motion video. Just the basic setting takes pictures that are ten time brighter and better than the ones from my old camera. I love my new toy.

Two weeks ago I took the camera out to play with the Snow setting. Since it's Iowa in winter, I didn't have to look far to find snow. Above is the view of the creek right outside our door. Lovely with the snow isn't it? The shots are crisp and bright. But the real advantage of the new camera is the zoom. Note the area across the creek, under the branch on the right. Here is the zoomed in photo. Aren't those cool snow structures? I wouldn't have seen them if it wasn't for the zoom. It's as good as some binoculars I own. And the photos are still crisp.

I took the camera to all of my family events last week. I took video and photos and only had one or two that came out badly, a sharp contrast to my previous camera. With that one, I would be lucky to have one or two that came out. Something like the picture below would never have come out.

I'll leave you with one last picture. It's of the newest guest to visit my bird feeder, a less than welcome guest. Hint: It's not the squirrel. Jeff had to forcibly remove it from our garage this afternoon. It's becoming more and more of a frequent visitor so I might have to end up doing something. We'll have to wait and see.

Learning Courage

Twelve years ago I would hardly leave the house after a snowfall. If snow fell, even flurries, when I was out and about I would rush home. I hated to leave the house with even a small amount of ice on roads. I had Jeff drive me to work for years on snowy days. I was scared. I lost sleep on nights snow was predicted. I worried endless over forecasts. I had the Weather Channel constantly up all winter. I was truly afraid of snow.

We had a blizzard this past week with 10 inches of snow and 40 to 50 mile an hour winds. I woke up Thursday morning, the height of the storm, and cleared off my car. I let it sit and warm. Then I drove to work. Slowly, ever so slowly, but I drove. I won't tell you that it was fun. Many of the streets hadn't been plowed at all. The ones that had were skating rinks of ice. When the wind it, the car skidded to the side. It was terrible. I was one of a dozen people who made it into work. It was announced at 7:30 that the state offices would be closed until noon, an unheard of thing (in 13 years we've only closed once).

The next day I also got up and drove to work. I've ingrained in myself that not going is not an option. The commute was far better than the day before but still slick. Still slow. As I sat at my desk I listened to people come in and talk about how terrible their drive in that day was. I listened and in the back of my head I thought "yeah but yesterday was worse". And I realized that I was now one of the brave ones in the office. I was one of the people who drove in terrible weather. It wasn't that I was not afraid, far from it. But I did it. And I started to think about the definition of courage. It's not being unafraid, as I always thought. It's about being afraid but doing what you're afraid of anyway.

Poetry Friday

I've had picture books on the brain a lot recently, for a number of different reasons. Partly because I'm driving out tonight to pick up my favorite picture book of all time (The Library by Sarah Stewart and David Small) that I ordered from my local bookstore. Second because of my children's book blog. The third reason I hope to tell you about soon but I'm trying hard not to write or think about at the moment.

We also had our first real taste of snow yesterday and today I just want to hibernate. I was reminded last night how much I hate winter. When the snow starts to fly I just want to stay indoors, curl up under a blanket, read, sip cocoa, and hibernate. What better way to do that than with a poem about both picture books and winter.

Picture-Books in Winter
by Robert Louis Stevenson

Summer fading, winter comes—
Frosty mornings, tingling thumbs
Window robins, winter rooks,
And the picture story-books.

Water now is turned to stone
Nurse and I can walk upon;
Still we find the flowing brooks
In the picture story-books.

All the pretty things put by,
Wait upon the children's eye,
Sheep and shepherds, trees and crooks,
In the picture story-books.

We may see how all things are,
Seas and cities, near and far,
And the flying fairies' looks,
In the picture story-books.

How am I to sing your praise,
Happy chimney-corner days,
Sitting safe in nursery nooks,
Reading picture story-books?

More Portents of Winter

They are predicting our first snowfall tonight. The beginning of November! This is way too early for a first snowfall. Our furnace hasn't even been turned on yet. I'm pretending that it will stay rain in the hope that this isn't actually the beginning of winter (In my mind, it is officially winter after the first snowfall). But even if it doesn't snow tonight, in my heart I know it's coming. I'm suddenly cold.

My second omen that winter is right around the corner is that I cracked open my first pomegranate this evening. Those shiny red fruit are my winter addiction. I tasted a couple of the seeds and they had an acidic aftertaste that wasn't great. I'm guessing it is still too early in the season. It was heavy but not really heavy enough to be fully ripe. But another reminder that the dread season is coming. Bleh!

Socks!!!

At long last I've finally finished my first pair of socks. They aren't real socks (no heels) but comfy tube socks that I plan to spend the entire winter in. These are the perfect around the house socks. They are by far the warmest socks I've ever worn. Acrylic apparently wins out over wool, at least in this case. They are soft and comfy and warm and mine. My first homemade socks and I made them. Can you tell I'm a bit excited?

A close-up on the pattern. It's actually really simple. And boring.

Into a Winter Wonderland

I'm not a winter fan. In fact I don't think it would be too much of a stretch to say that I hate winter. Hate it! I hate the snow and the ice and the cold. But since I live in the Midwest I have about five months of winter to deal with (November-March). It snows at least a little through these months. In the past I've been content to hide indoors and only go out when the snow has stopped flying. This year I'm trying something different.

My brother and his family were in town this weekend and we spent a ton of time hanging out with them. It was wonderful. But I was complaining to my very athletic brother that I wanted to start running but I didn't want to go running in the winter. We don't have a treadmill and the sidewalks are way too slick for fearless running. The conversation went a bit like this:

Me: I do want to start running but I'll probably wait until the spring.

John: Why?

Me: Well, I don't have a treadmill and I'm not going to run outside.

John: Why?

Me: The sidewalks scare me. I'm not comfortable on that kind of ice.

John: Where do you live?

Me: Huh, West Des Moines

John: And there are no fields out there?

Me: Run in a field?

John: Yep, go running in the snow. If you fall, who cares. It's soft. Find a nice snowy field and run. It doesn't matter where you run. As long as you have fun and get some benefit from it.

He's so smart! So I decided to try it. And I am happy to say that it works. I couldn't run for very long but I was able to run. I was in boots and jean and my Yaktraks but I was able to run. I'm excited to make it a regular exercise program. It was actually pretty exhilarating to be out in the cold air running, like when I was a kid. And I didn't worry about falling.

My other thing is that I've started pricing snowshoes. I want to trek out into the woods and I like the idea of using snowshoes. So far most of them have been in the $50 to $100 range but I'm going to keep looking a bit. I need to learn more about the difference. I'm excited that I'm starting to get out into the winter weather. Perhaps these months won't be quite so wasted after all.

Knitting Night

Wednesday's are knitting nights so I don't have a ton of time to post. I have so many knitting projects going right now that they're taking up most of my free time. I have a couple projects that I'm working on for Christmas or right after so I've been a bit rushed. But I'm not complaining. I've been a knitting fool recently and loving it.

And I'm incredibly excited to announce that I have a new niece or nephew coming. Congrats guys! So I'll have a baby project to work on as well. But that's not until June. I'm thinking a hat and booties might be out at that time of year. Baby swimwear anyone? :-)

But I figured I'd share my winter weather gear since the below zero temps today made sure I brought it out. About a year and a half ago I ended up out at this amazing yarn store and picked up some gorgeous blue merino wool. It was the nicest wool I had bought for myself at the time. I decided to celebrate by knitting myself mittens. My first pair of mittens to be exact. They came out...strange. Kind of wonky and odd, but they are warm and soft and I still wear them. I took the leftover yarn and knit myself a hat. It's a bit big but I love it. And when I still had most of a ball leftover I knit a lacy little scarf. The pattern doesn't come out perfectly in the picture but it's a great (and easy) pattern. That's the great part about knitting. Even if the pattern seems hard, most of the time with a little patience, you can learn anything.

Winter Foods (or Pomegranates for Dummies)

It was officially winter for me today. Oh sure I've already seen my first junco of the season (a birding sign of winter). I've already scraped my car a couple of times now. I've worn my mittens. I've had the heated mattress pad cranked up in the evenings. I've even brought out my winter coat. But the final straw was this morning when the house dropped below 63 and we had to turn on the furnace. Winter begins when the furnace kicks on for the first time. From now until March the house will rarely drop below 68. We spend a small fortune in heating bills but it's worth it.

One of my other signs of winter is that I get the sudden urge to bake. Each winter I typically bake a couple dozen cookies but I'm learning this year to bake bread. Last week I started with an easy banana bread that came out pretty well. I didn't have enough banana to make the recipe so I substituted in some applesauce which worked beautifully. It was a bit dry but very tasty. This week I'm thinking about doing a wheat and rolled oat bread from a recipe I found in a dieter's cookbook. We'll see how it comes out. I'm also suddenly interested in cake decorating. i picked up a couple books from the library and am going to spend some time with food coloring, sugarpaste, and royal icing. We'll see what comes out of that. I'll post pictures of both the successes and tragedies. I'm assuming both will be equally tasty. :-)

But my big excitement for November are those oddly shaped red fruits called pomegranates that I gorge myself on every year. If you're new to the blog, I wrote about my undying love of pomegranates. I devour them throughout their limited season until I'm practically sick. And about the time I'm starting to get tired of eating them day in and day out, the season ends and I have to wait 10 more months to get them. When Jeff and I were in the grocery store today I noticed that they were back in stock. I bought three and brought them home to rip apart.

For those of you who've never prepared a pomegranate, they can be a bit time intensive. You have to pluck the delicate seeds from the rest of the fruit. I used to waste hours on them until I mentioned my addiction in the blog and my friend Salt pointed out a much better way to prep them that I thought I'd share here. First, you want to pick your pomegranates based on weight. The fruit should feel surprisingly heavy. That means the seeds are filled with juice. Once you get them home you'll want to cut the top and the bottom off of the pomegranate. Try to stay pretty shallow so you don't cut any of the seeds. Once that's done, score the fruit along the white material. I tend to stay shallow for this as well. Then the fun begins.

Grab a big bowl and fill it mostly full with water. Holding the pomegranate under the water, start to gently pry it apart. The seeds spray purple everywhere when pushed too hard, so having the fruit underwater will minimize the mess. Rub the seeds off gently by pulling them away from the white foundation. You'll be able to pull off multiple seeds at one time by simply rubbing the tops of the seeds. The fruits will sink to the bottom of the bowl while the white debris will float to the surface. After all the seeds have been pulled off, I scoop the debris off the top of the water, and then strain the seeds. They go into a tupperware container to sit in my fridge. I've found them great for snacking or in salads. They'll keep in the fridge for up to 10 days.

Winter may be my least favorite time of the year, but baking and pomegranates make it just a little bit sweeter.

On the Road Again

Thank god for free wireless at Panera!!!

I'm sitting in Panera in Kansas City waiting for Jeff to get done with the networking event that brought us down here. I accidentally left my book in the car along with my knitting. The only thing I grabbed in the rush to get him there on time was his computer. So here I sit, happily typing while watching the people go by. I have an hour and a half before he's done and I couldn't be happier. I have a coffee and a cookie, and life is good.

After this we're heading east, to St. Louis to see family for the weekend. We were last there in May and we both decided that it would be good to get into town sometime before the winter. Once winter hits, I get a lot more leery of traveling. And I've been missing my in-laws. It's time for a road trip.

Jeff and I used to travel a lot in the winter. In fact it seemed that the moment the snow started flying we started getting cabin fever and would head out of town. I've driven through blizzards and freezing rain. We've slid off roads and almost gotten stranded a couple of times. One trip back from Minneapolis, sent us back up to the Cities after they closed the Interstate. We even had one horrific five hour drive back from Iowa City where we had to use the rumble strips just to get some traction. We've traveled in the winter and sometimes paid the price.

But as I've gotten older, I've become a bit more cautious. I'm less likely to throw my bag in the car and head out of town when there is threat of snow. I'm not my old college self who would travel in anything. I check weather reports (some would say obsessively) and prepare for the worst. So this year I think we'll stay home this winter. After last year I'm still a bit gun shy of even walking on ice. Driving will be nerve-wracking. So we'll stay home and deal with cabin fever in other ways. Of course I say this now. We'll see what happens when the snow flies. Most likely we'll be back on the road again.

Literate Cities

It's not fair!

One of the big parts of my job is looking at rankings of states and cities to create marketing pieces for the state of Iowa. It is one of my favorite parts of the job and I find myself seeking out other rankings in my free time.

So I found one just recently that really interested me. Central Connecticut State University produces a list of the Most Literate Cities in the country. The school uses six factors to create the ranking: booksellers per 10,000 population, education level, periodical publishers, newspaper circulation, libraries (holdings, number, govt spending...), and Internet resources. Since my goal is to live in a highly educated city, this ranking is right up my alley.

Here is the issue. Two of the cities on the list are cities that I should be living in. Minneapolis and St. Paul have made the list for the last 10 years (the number of years the ranking has been done). These two cities consistantly rank at the top for affordability and education. I have a large number of friends in The Cities and truly love the atmosphere. Of course there is a catch, there is always a catch. The snow and the winter would be terrible for me. I'm not a fan of cold and winter and snow. And they tend (note I say tend) to be worse than we are in terms of total inches and number of storms.

So it's not fair. I originally wanted to move to the cities but the older I get the more I resist the winters. I've blatently said that this is the furthest north I plan to go. But we have friends in The Cities who try to convince us to move up. I know that this is just more fodder for them. I keep planning to go south one of these years. Perhaps Atlanta. It made the list.

For those of you interested, here are the rest of the Top 10 for 2009.

1. Seattle, WA
2. Washington DC
3. Minneapolis, MN
4. Pittsburgh, PA
5. Atlanta, GA
6. Portland, OR
7. St. Paul, MN
8. Boston, MA
9. Cinncinati, OH
10. Denver, CO

In Like a Lamb

There is an old adage about the month of March that says: March comes in like a lion, and out like a lamb. For most of the years of my life this has been true. March is the unpredictable month. It could rain or snow or be sunny, sometimes all in one day. March traditionally starts with some heavy snow and by the end of the month we are feeling the first little hints of spring.

This year is a bit different. March is entering like a lamb. The city of Des Moines has been blessed with some of the nicest weather we've seen since in months. The days are reaching temperatures of 32 and above. There is even a hint (can I dare to hope?) of temperatures in the 40s over the weekend. The snow is starting to melt and for the first time since December we are starting to see some grass.

I woke up this morning to bird songs, something that I hadn't heard since November. And it seems like everyone is getting into the spirit. Moods have definitely lifted. People are out and about, even taking their coats off. I saw a woman this past weekend in short sleeves and flip flops. While I don't think we've gotten quite that warm yet, it is feeling like a heat wave. After almost 4 months of below freezing temperatures, you'll have to excuse us if we party a little bit to see 35 degree days. I'm sure the winter will try one or two last tricks before ending this month. But I'm happy to say that it's power to depress is over. We are starting to feel the spring, and after this winter, it is the most delightful sensation on earth.

Roof Ice

About a year ago I did a post on eating icicles and in that post I used a picture, that I found and "borrowed", of some rather impressive looking icicles. Today I'm posting more icicle pictures but these are not borrowed shots. These are shots that Jeff took not a half hour ago. They are my record of what this winter has been like. And a record of how ice has slowly, steadily, taken over my house.

These are from the roof of my two story house and are starting to reach the lower windows.



Here are some that have traveled from one roof to another.



This is a poor lilac bush in front of our house which is being eaten by ice.



And this is your very humble writer, on crutches, after her first time driving the new car. Heck, my first time driving in almost two months. I'm not ready to drive on my own yet, still a bit scared, but Jeff gave me the option to drive to dinner and I reluctantly accepted. Baby steps.

By the way, the railing you see there is about waist high. Two days ago I couldn't see it at all.

Olympics

The one good thing about this winter (and there has been very little) is that it is an Olympics year. I may not enjoy the season of winter but I am a die-hard winter Olympics fan. Then again I'm a huge summer Olympics fan too. For the entire two weeks of the Olympic games I sit in front of the TV and watch as much coverage as I possibly can. I am completely obsessed. Poor Jeff won't see the remote for the next two weeks as I jump between the stations carrying the games. I'm not sure where this passion for the Olympics came from. But I know that I've been fascinated for years now.

And I don't just watch the typical sports. If anything, figure skating interests me the least. I'm passionate about luge, skeleton, biathlon, curling, ski-jumping, and speed skating. A couple years ago I became obsessed with ice dancing although I'm not sure why. Like the summer games, where I watch at odd hours for the fencing, I will go out of my way to catch the more unusual sports. But I'm not picky. If it's Olympic coverage, I'll watch. That said, I feel I should clarify. I watch the events, not the other coverage. I don't even keep track of the medals standings mostly because I don't really root for any one country. I just love to watch the best athletes in the world compete.

In 2002, Jeff and I made the trip to Salt Lake to watch the games in person. We took Amtrak out to Utah and fell in love with the atmosphere. In fact the whole trip was incredible. We had purchased tickets to biathlon, downhill skiing, ski-jumping, and luge. We managed to get some last minute tickets to see a curling match. And at every event we were completely blown away by the atmosphere. At the biathlon we were completely surrounded by Norwegians and Swedes and the place was a constant party. There were flags everywhere and cowbells and horns. It was fantastic. The ski-jump was early morning and somewhat more somber. Than again there was far more risk involved. Luge was at night and was filled with picture attempts and amazing speed. When you watch luge on TV they slow it down quite a bit. Actual luge is too fast to even comprehend. It's like standing on the side of the interstate trying to catch details on the cars speeding past you at 80 mph. Tickets for curling were hard to come by and the arena was electric. It's like a chess match on ice and even the most subtle move can change the entire match.

So tonight my plan is to camp out in front of the TV, eat dinner, and watch the opening ceremonies for the Vancouver Olympics. I haven't missed an opening ceremonies in the last eight sessions of the games. I love the pageantry of it. I love watching all the competing nations walk into the arena. I love seeing the uniforms. I love seeing how they light the torch. And I love the pride that seems to shine from the athletes' faces. It is a spectacle of the highest order and I don't intend to miss it. As always I'm sure I'll get choked up and cry. I'm sure I'll be swept up in the drama of the whole thing. And I'm sure I'll love every moment. If you've never seen an opening ceremonies I would highly recommend it. NBC tonight at 6:30. And if nothing else, make sure to check out some of the games.

A Quick Plea to Mother Nature

I'm calling Uncle!!! I've had enough with winter now. Now normally by the time that February rolls around I'm starting to be tired of winter. But this year I had reached that by Christmas. This is just overkill.

This is my front patio. Buried under there is my air conditioner. Somewhere.

It has been completely buried under snow since December 8th. And tonight and tomorrow we are supposed to get 6 more inches. I've started looking for houses in Florida. So I'm offering a plea to Mother Nature. I like Iowa. I wouldn't mind staying a couple more years. But she's offering me little choice. I'm officially done with winter.

Merry Christmas All

In a few short hours I will be winging my way southward with the hopes of reaching at least Hannibal, Missouri before the weather finally catches up to us. I'm fleeing a storm that may very well bring 12 inches of snow to my fair city. I understand that my friends up north are receiving much more. My big hope is that we can get out before the rain we've been getting starts to freeze and change to snow. I'll keep you posted.

I'll be in St. Louis this weekend which should get quite a bit less snow and will be hopefully much warmer. I'm not sure what my internet access situation will be so I won't promise any posting. I also won't have a ton of time. So this measly thing might be it for the rest of the week. Merry Christmas all!! I hope you get a chance to spend time with family and friends. To relax after the sometimes exhausting Christmas season. That you get a chance to eat tons of food and that everyone stays safe and warm. I'll be thinking of you all. Be safe, be loved, be merry.

Stressed

{Warning: I'm incredibly whiny and neurotic today. Proceed with caution}

Have you ever had one of those weeks where you wake up with a feeling of impending doom? That's this week for me. Just thinking about the week makes me nervous. This morning I honestly wondered if going back to bed would make it go away. It's not Christmas, although that's stressful enough for some people. It's just the wrong combination of things.

As most of you know I'm not a huge fan of winter. In fact I hate it. I hate the ice and the snow and the cold. I'm starting to get over my fear of driving but I'm still terrified of ice. So of course they are planning for freezing rain all week. Literally starting tonight we are supposed to have freezing rain and snow, pretty much nonstop, until Friday afternoon. I'd be upset about that normally but even more so considering we will be traveling this weekend. I'm supposed to head to St. Louis this coming Friday. Heading out of town in freezing rain and sheet ice is the stuff of nightmares for me. Trigger my weather nerves.

Add to that the fact that I'm helping a friend out with some pet-sitting. I told her I would check in on her puppies each day this week. She has someone coming to take care of them but I need to check in daily. Now I love her dogs but I'm not always good with pet sitting. Much like baby-sitting, taking care of someone else's pet or child is pretty stressful on me. It instantly moves me into stress and worry mode. I am constantly worried that something will happen to them on my watch. After watching me babysit one afternoon, Jeff just smiled and told me it's a good thing we didn't have kids. I'd never sleep. Add that worry to the mix.

Last night I came home to find that my upstairs window sills were wet. Well not just wet, soaked and damaged. Apparently my windows are leaking under all the stress of the snow. There is still well over a foot of snow on some sections of the roof and the gutters are filled with ice. So it is now leaking into the house, either through the attic or through the window seals. I'm hoping it's the seals, less worry for mold. The sills are destroyed and now I'm worried that it has moved into the walls. Repair is going to be costly. I'm hoping the association will cover some of it, but I'm worried that it might cause other problems.

Oh and add the fact that I have three people I haven't bought for, a Secret Santa I just picked up on Friday, and you can consider me one walking pile of nerves. I'm a worrier to begin with but I think things are starting to stack up on me. Weather, pet-sitting, home repairs, shopping, and slippery travel. Should be a fun week.

{Sorry all. I probably shouldn't be writing this today. I know I've got it pretty good and that I'm whining needlessly. It was just weighing on my mind.}

Poetry Friday

No politics this week. In fact something a little tamer. With Christmas only a week away I thought I would do something seasonal. I looked for something to do with the solstice. That is my favorite part of this holiday. I traditionally celebrate the solstice because I know that after it comes the lengthening days. Similarly I become depressed at the summer solstice, knowing that they sunlight will never be longer than it is now. And each year this repeats.

But I haven't found any Solstice poems that I like and I love the simple cadence and sweetness of Robert Louis Stevenson's poetry. Yes this is the same Robert Louis Stevenson who wrote Treasure Island and Dr. Jekyl and Mr Hyde. But no menace or dasterdy pirates here. Just sweetness. Enjoy!


Winter-Time
by Robert Louis Stevenson

Late lies the wintry sun a-bed,
A frosty, fiery sleepy-head;
Blinks but an hour or two; and then,
A blood-red orange, sets again.

Before the stars have left the skies,
At morning in the dark I rise;
And shivering in my nakedness,
By the cold candle, bathe and dress.

Close by the jolly fire I sit
To warm my frozen bones a bit;
Or with a reindeer-sled, explore
The colder countries round the door.

When to go out, my nurse doth wrap
Me in my comforter and cap;
The cold wind burns my face, and blows
Its frosty pepper up my nose.

Black are my steps on silver sod;
Thick blows my frosty breath abroad;
And tree and house, and hill and lake,
Are frosted like a wedding-cake.