Coming Home again...

'Nuff said....

This was BEFORE we could get into the house or garage! Fortunately it was only about 40º so not so bad for shoveling. This was on Saturday and by the next Wednesday, there was NO SNOW! Wonder if it's the last of the season?

Gettin' Outta Dodge

My DH loves going to visit friends in San Diego (where we lived for 16 years) during the winter, so he planned a relaxed trip for us on the train, scheduling us to leave on Tuesday, Feb 1. As you may know,  2011 has been a snowy year and yet another snowstorm was headed for Kansas City, with blizzard warnings for Tuesday. So we high-tailed it west, changing our tickets and leaving 2 days early. (Warning: AMTRAK is convenient but bumpy - a whole lot of rockin' and rollin' makes it difficult to sleep, even with a sleeper berth.)

Soon we were basking in sunshine, mooching off our friends Liz and Gary and eating at all our favorite San Diego haunts. This was lunchtime at The Prado in Balboa Park.

We were actually cool at night, since that desert, dry heat stuff goes away in the winter, even in San Diego. But we only needed sweaters with our flip flops.

Watched palm tree trimming from Liz's deck and felt bad for the golfers in Phoenix who battled icy greens.

Enjoyed the Mercado Farmers' Market in the Little Italy neighborhood near downtown San Diego. If you are there on a Saturday, do NOT miss it.

Gotta love the French bakery products - yum! Thanks to my friend Kathie for taking me there.

We got back this morning - and spent 30 minutes digging out our driveway before we could even get into our garage!

So much for relaxing - and we are out of shape from sitting around for nearly 2 weeks. But it is always great to be home again.

I Love Snow

I know, it's cold, it's messy and slippery driving in it but snow makes the world so beautiful and white and pristine. It was just lovely watching (from INSIDE my cozy home) as the yard filled up at the rate of an inch an hour last night.

Digging out is not so much fun, especially for retired folks with bad backs or other infirmities....is wussiness an infirmity? But small towns in Missouri (like Pleasant Hill, where we live) are also home to outdoorsy types with big boy toys - like four wheeler, offroad-type toys. Who knew they could be equipped with snow scrapers on the front?

Our neighbor's nephew generously cleared our driveway after doing Joe's driveway. Although it is cold, it did look like fun - and he not only pushed snow from the drive into the street, he also cleared the curb so the US Mail could get to the mailboxes. He wouldn't take payment and didn't give me his name.....

...but when he left, he was headed down the street toward the dead end, where another neighbor was struggling with a snow blower. Thank you, Joe's nephew!

This photo is for my granddaughters - their stuffed penquin looks right at home in the snow.

But Frank (the penguin) didn't sit there long, not even wearing his custom-knitted muffler from Aunt Laura.

Happy Snow Day from the Fisks in Missouri.

First Snow of the Season

Visiting my sister Kristin in northern Iowa this past weekend, we woke up to 4 inches of soft, wet snow.

It was perfect snowman-snow, covering trees, cars and building with fluffy beauty -and disturbing people's plans. My sister was concerned about the patio cement pour scheduled for today......likely not going to happen til Spring now.

We left early enough on Saturday to drive south to my mom's house before dark, and drove out of the snow about 40 miles south.....bringing fatigue and a cold home with me. But it was magical to see the world turn blue-white!

Happy Spring!

This is just silly - who says God doesn't have a sense of humor? This was my deck last night when I went to bed - the first day of Spring 2010....

W

This morning I measured - we got a full 8" yesterday and last night. Today it's melting fast, but was enough to cancel a lot of events.

I bought my lettuce and pea seeds this week, but it will be a while before our sticky Missouri clay backyard is dry enough to dig in.