Bring It On, Juno!

We are waiting for Winter Storm Juno to roll into town. A has flown the coop for California, making me hold his breath this morning about whether or not they could get manage to get out of New York City and into the air. He's off now, on his way to the land of palm trees and internet start-ups and I'm here, stacking up a little extra wood beside the fireplace, stirring the hot chocolate and watching the snow start to fall.

I have to say that there is nothing like New England before a storm to make you feel festive and cozy. People love to gripe about the lines at the store, the empty shelves and the advanced school closures. I used to think that people around here were terrified about storms but thinking about it this morning I changed my mind. I think that storms in our area are a rarity, and locals feel a sense of pride and celebration about this kind of a small catastrophe. Everyone is out stocking their front porches with snow shovels, salt and scrapers and waving to each other, all my friends are checking with each other to see what movies and board games we have all stocked up on for weathering the blizzard. There's something kind of yesteryear and community oriented about the whole business. I feel like we should all meet at a diner after the storm abates for egg creams and toasts.

This area doesn't see regular snow in the winter but I have to say that when it comes, we know how to make a season into a real sensation. Storm Parties all 'round!

I just got a call from the governor's office ordering everyone to stay off of all roads after 9pm and requiring everyone in my city to remove cars into private driveways. Feels kinda real! Now I just need to put something in the oven for dinner and pick out a late night, mama activity. Bring it on, Juno! We're ready to rock and roll!

Slow Days

Sometimes I just need a break. Last week was one of those times. I would have warned you all that I was going to take a hiatus if I had known I was about to need one. Life is occasionally quite impromptu and you know, as in life, so in blogging.

The weekend was exciting. Crazy, gorgeous dump of snow, cancelled birthday parties and then a frantic/worried/bizarre day which we spent huddled over our sweet late-guinea pig Jenny. I never could have imagined that it would be possible to be obsessing worriedly for an entire day over the aliveness or deadness of an animal but that's what happened. They are so very small and she was clearly very sick or else dead....we were rather avidly hopeful. Alas, by this morning I could firmly say she was gone and we said our goodbyes including a custom dirge, Nib wrote and sang "Jenny, come back your friend, you are gone away Jenny, poor, poor Jenny, she did die." and a little postmortem portrait tribute from Dee complete with little stick figure legs poking out of her tiny crayoned body.

This morning after we dropped A off at work the boys and I marched bravely to the pet store after praying for a new friend for our remaining, lonely Sarsparilla. It broke my heart this morning to be greeted by silence instead of the usual friend whistles and tweets and find Sarsparilla moping in her little wooden shelter at one end of the cage. We are the proud new owners of a fluffy black and white piggy and I am pleased to tell you that Sarsparilla appears to have taken her in and is already back to making some of her usual noises. We've named the new little fluff ball Chamomile.

Pom has finally pushed through his two, giant from teeth and is the proud owner of opposing ivories. I heard him gritting them together in that horrible, scraping way all babies experiment with just this morning. Heh. I hope his sleep and irritability improve a bit now that he has put the big chompers behind him for a while. Maybe his body will give him a rest for having started a bit early.

Its slow times at our house. Planning the mythical vegetable garden, roasting beef slow and slower in the oven, drinking vats of milky tea, snuggling the baby and forcing the trimmings from the fruit trees in the yard as I slowly hack away at pruning.

A Little Finger Pluckin' Warmth

I wish I could play the banjo to my little men but, in lieu of that, on this chilly, blizzardy night (yes, another snowstorm, rolling in) I suggest you all enjoy this video on me. I love the warm cozy house this baby is in...sweet mama with a kerchief and her strings, papa teasing from behind the camera, wood stove and quilts hung over the chairs.What a warm moment to play over and over...

Snowy, Snow, Snow, Snow

Today it snowed some more. It's the latest thing. Everyone on the East Coast is having the same...it's all the rage. A even caught himself thinking longingly about a snow-blower until I reminded him that this year is a severe anomaly. We normally don't lose sight of our grass for very long stretches during the winter and real accumulation is more of a wish than anything else. I always head to Michigan for Christmas, thinking fondly about how absolutely cock-sure it is that there will be a deep blanket of white.

Somehow it seems "right" to me to have blizzards and snowy walks and a sifting blanket of white on these winter evenings. It is after all winter.  It seems like winter ought to come with snow. And really, Ru is rarely happier than when he's out playing in the white stuff. It's a year of sleds, snowball fights, and shoveling, shoveling, shoveling. He couldn't be more pleased. It's so very lucky that we bought a house just before the record snowfalls of 2010-11 so that he could get hands on walk clearing lessons by his daddy's side almost every evening.

That said, I am not sure how much longer I want this snow to stick around. December was a lovely month to be snowed-in and January is still quite jolly...no holidays just snow-days. February now...that ought to be the end. I'm willing to let the white stuff linger this one last month and then I hope to see signs of spring. That's about as long as this wussy girl from The Great White North manages to hold out with any amount of good cheer.

I love this sign that we pass on our way to the next town when we take the back-roads. I'm not the only one who's starting to dream of budding flowers.....