blizzard

 

This was the view through our "bird bench" window last Wednesday.  Below is Saturday morning, same window.  That was about half way through our 30 inches of snow.  

 

 

 

                         shoveling out the chickens...

    cardinal at the feeders...

 

 trudging through waist deep drifts on the deck...

 

 It was a pretty great weekend.  I was supposed to be X-country skiing in Western Maine with some friends for the weekend.  And while we are totally psyched to get away for some great exercise in the beautiful mountains, without children, we were also really pleased to not have to do it in  below zero weather, with 40 mph winds and  2-3 feet of snow on the trail.  Fortunately they have an extreme weather clause in their reservations--so we'll get our chance again in a couple of weeks.  And hopefully it will be 30 degrees and sunny, with light powder (just saying).  

Instead of driving two hours through blizzard conditions, we stayed home.  Rob had taken a half day on Friday so we were all together for nearly three days, with no obligations save lots of shoveling.  I had stocked up on easy, quick food for Rob to feed the kids while I was away, as well as plenty of good chocolate (meant for the skiing ladies) which made for a very laid back weekend.  I was nursing a bit of a head cold, so without meal prep to do, and with Rob close at hand I spent the weekend drinking tea, knitting  (lots to share soon!) and reading beside the wood stove.  Hard to beat that.

When the sun came out on Sunday we made this sweet ice wreath (inspired by this one) to decorate the porch.  The little guys were part of an old broken candle holder.
February has always been a hard month for me, but with plenty of fresh snow, a ski vacation in sight, and a few tricks up my sleeve I think we'll sail through just fine.
Nothing like New England weather with a dose of global warming to keep things interesting.