Let It Snow, Let it Snow......

I started off for work at 7am and by 7:15am my hands were shaking like a leaf, as I found myself in a whiteout blizzard with winds up to 60mph.  It was dark, NOAA (weather) was predicting avalanches.  Can you feel the stress?   So I did something I had never done before in my 8 years on this commute.  I turned around and went home.  I called the principal and in a shaky voice said "I am turning around it is crazy scary."

We have snow, lots and lots of snow.  Our 720 square feet is buried in snow.

Which brings me to a few of my favorite things for winter.

Every girl needs a Skhoop Skirt and gators to shovel snow now doesn't she.  I love my quilted skirt that goes so nicely over my fleech pants.  I love my gators that remind me of old timey shoes (strong imagination).  I could go on and on about my Vasque hiking boots, but won't.

I love our big black shovel.  Well love/hate.  I would almost consider these accessories as women might consider a necklace for the amount of times they are part of my attire.  The black push shovel is the most incredible shovel we have ever had.  If you live in a place with snow, and you find yourself shoveling a lot it is a must have.  The red sled, thank you Target.

Little Man in Nature

Grandad came for the holidays and the little guy got some snowshoes.  He always treks farther than expected and has been expressing his love of nature with the words "beautiful" and "pretty".  He is so incredibly fun!

We are getting an amazing amount of snow here in Alaska.  An amount that would shut other states down.  Tomorrow the report is for 18-28" of snow with up to 60mph winds.  All I can think about is my drive to work being difficult, but I never think of staying home.  Does that make me just a little twisted?

Yarn Along

I decided to join in on the Yarn Along that Ginny of Small Things started.  I am knitting the little guy an English Rib Pullover sweater.  This is the  first sweater ( not countining the one I started last year and ripped out because it was too difficult) I have tried.  It is rewarding and frustrating.  Being a beginner means knitting a bunch, then waiting for a friend to teach me how to undo and redo errors.  It is a lesson in patience for sure.

In my bedside table sits The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, which so far has been captivating.  Please excuse the poor quality photo.   I knit when my son is in the bathtub and the lighting is impossible.   We are,  that is my son and I,  finally at the point where I can take on a non-fiction.  For the first 2 years I could only read mindless fiction.   I was just too tired to concentrate.  My brain is breathing a sigh of relief to be learning something rather than just tolerating what I read.

This Moment New Red Bike

(This moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. An idea from Soulmama.

Growth

A Spiritual Journey

By Wendell Berry

And the world cannot be discovered by a journey of miles,

no matter how long,

but only by a spiritual journey,

a journey of one inch,

very arduous and humbling and joyful,

by which we arrive at the ground at our feet,

and learn to be at home.

For some reason this 4th birthday of my son has left me reflecting on the journey that we are on.  It is all a journey of inches, not miles.  Each inch is growth and many inches lead to miles.  I look back and recall how long it took him to learn to blow.  Something that is so simple for other children was difficult for him, and inch by inch he learned and now... the inches led to the mile of blowing out his candles on his cake.  It is a journey, every inch of it.

Look Who Is 4!

I can't believe my son is 4.  He is the most wonderful kind of 4.  He just discovered tops and is on the quest to find the ultimate spinning top.  His research includes anything he can reach, plates, lids, forks.... you never know what might spin.

I received a grant from the Alaska School Board to start a World Drum Ensemble.  We have been holding homeschool drum circles every Wednesday.  It has been so much fun.  The little guy has been joining in.  I love that he can come and enjoy it with me.

Surprises

When we married my husband and I had a very small wedding, consisting of his father and 4 friends.  We chose a spot 3 minutes from our house, at the edge of a meadow across the street from our house.  It was winter, and my husband went out before the ceremony to make a wedding chapel in the snow that consisted of an aisle and a huge circle patted down with snowshoes.  It snowed 5 feet the weekend we got married.

Every winter my husband surprises me with recreating the wedding chappel.  I took a snowshoe last weekend and there is was again. I always forget that it will be there and always giggle when I see it. I wonder what others think when they see it.  So very sweet.