The Happy Eccentrics Of 18th Street

So what did we do yesterday? We watched the snow. All day. Not a single flake of it stuck for a second but it snowed for hours. You can barely even tell in these pictures (which I took in hopes of showing my sister how cheerfully snowy it was). I am always astonished at how hard it is for my cameras to capture snow falling. You can see a few flakes on my mom's coat. When the flakes got really large we swarmed outside and just stood around grinning and jumping up and down in it.

We're a people who are easily amused. Max even came unglued from his new PS2 games to revel in the snow falling. You can barely see it. Yet while taking these pictures the flakes were HUGE!

It was perfect. My mom made a totally non local brunch (I didn't request it, but you don't refuse such thoughtfulness either) and we drank mimosas in the morning, tea in the afternoon, and champagne, beer, and wine in the evening. Dinner was a cauliflower and Brussels sprouts gratin with pesto pasta. The spaghetti was vetoed by my mom's unenthusiastic response to the suggestion. I'll just have to make that later in the week.

We had a couple of good friends over to dinner with my mom so it was the perfect festive mix.

It is certain that I have consumed enough sugar via peanut brittle made by my favorite Mennonite and I may yet pickle myself with it. My friend Lucille sent us the most wonderful gingerbread tiles which we've already almost finished eating- she stamps them with an acorn motif.

This is the very first day in a really long time that I don't have to do anything in particular. I could do all kinds of things, but I don't have to. Pretty amazing feeling! I can't work on any sewing project since my machine is on sabbatical. (The first thought I had about what I could be doing is that I could work on my quilt.)

I think I'll go and look at my Herb Companion magazine and think about what I will be planting this spring. That seems like a really good plan. There couldn't be a more hopeful activity than planting gardens full of herbs, fruit, and vegetables. Perhaps dreaming of my garden will help erase from my head the asinine interview of George and Laura Bush that I read last night.

I also had a dream last night where I had pitch black long leg hairs that I tried to shave off, even thought I had shaved successfully only to find (once out in public) that I had managed only to shave half of each leg in a haphazard fashion.

I'd like to erase that from my brain too.

I think I'll also try to get caught up with laundry.

Anyway, it's a nice cold happy day here in Oregon and I hope that everyone else is now able to relax a little bit after all the rushing about.