The Big Snow of 2016

It was all over the news. It's coming. It's coming. It changed every hour HOW MUCH snow we were going to get and depending on the TV channel. Have you gone shopping? Bread, milk and toilet paper. Ha-ha.

Friday January 22 --- it came! I think it started around 10 am and pretty much snowed non-stop all day and night. James and I were up in the loft where it was warmer. We read, I laced, drank tea ... and later Glühwein.

 

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Helen of course got the snow a little earlier but not quite as much. William was so excited at the phone. Here is a VIDEO of William making a snow angel shared by Helen.

Before going to bed we did a last check and could not believe the amount of snow. It looked nice though.

 

 

 

Saturday

 

When we woke up this was the view out of the bedroom window. Wow. We didn't know though that this wasn't the end of it. It snowed on and off most of the day. Strong winds twirled snow around and there was no way of knowing how much actually did fall.

 

 

In the evening this was our view. The door to the kitchen patio.

 

 

Really? A spider? On the outside between the glass and the snow.

 

 

I wouldn't normally having taken this close-up photo but Julie, our friend around the corner, had just sent me a photo from the day of her visiting spider "Charlotte". I had to sent her a picture of Charlotte's cousin visiting us (trying too). I guess we are all feeling cooped up.

 

 

It did look very pretty though.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One thing we did do is play with my new toy. I had admired Sarah's camera on vacation. It's a GoPro knock-off and the price reasonable enough that I decided to spoil myself.

James took the first picture with it. It shows me in the loft doing bobbinlace.

 

 

Ha, did you notice that I was able to change the date stamp?

 

 

 

Sunday January 24

 

Happy Birthday, dear daughter Helen. Hope you are going to have a wonderful day even so we can't be with you! The day Helen was born in St Louis we pretty much had snow and temperatures like this.

Snowing had stopped. The total amount if snow was incredible. I saw a chart at one point on TV that Glen Allen had gotten 17.5 inches. I can believe that. This day though the sky was blue and the sun was shining. Beautiful!

At 10 am cabin fever got the better of us. Even though everything outside is done for us here James decided he wanted to clear the sidewalk ... starting by removing the snow wall at the door underneath the portico.

VIDEO

And look what I had found the other day when we organized the coat closet: Peruvian gloves. VIDEO!

 

 

William's snow angel inspired me to try to make one too. Probably have not made one for 57 years. James was a good sport. Helen told me though that I forgot to do it with my legs too. Getting out of it without destroying the picture is the tough part.

VIDEO

 

 

 

We didn't dare open the garage door not knowing what was on the other side. But once we saw it from the outside James decided to shovel about a foot to make it easier for the removal crew.

 

 

It was such a beautiful day and the roads seemed pretty good that we decided to go for a walk. Our Fitbit step count had been horrible lately. We couldn't get to the road though without shoveling a little dent into the wall the plow had made. It only took a few minutes though.

 

 

 

 

There were parts where we had to be careful because of black ice, didn't go quite as fast and far as usual. I suggested to go home, have lunch and do another loop when even more had melted by the strong sun. It was a good move.

We encountered some of the removal crew and I took a VIDEO for William and Caleb.

 

 

 

There was talk on Facebook about snow cream or snow ice cream. And then Helen had texted on Saturday that Ben had made the best ever. I had never heard of this before I came the the USA and had never had any. Sunday afternoon I tried it. This snow was just too good not to use.

Helen told me that Ben did theirs with whipping cream which I didn't have. She suggested to google, which I did. It could not have been any easier. And I had what I needed. It was sooooooo delicious ... and fun.

The big metal bowl put in the snow to get cold while I filled it with lovely powered snow.

That taken into the kitchen, add a teaspoon vanilla and one can of sweetened condensed milk. Voila!

James had been very sceptical beforehand but had a portion and very much enjoyed it too. It is so different than regular icecream. NICE!

I had no idea how much this would make and there was a lot leftover. I put it into a flat plastic container. Squashed it down and put it into the freezer. Had some next day and it was as good!

 

 

O.k. ... what's good about being snowed in? I finished three bobbinlace Chrismons!

 

 

 

 

 

What else? Caleb's daycare was closed on Monday (today) so guess what? Wade brought him at 9 am and we did some serious playing.

 

 

 

Apple slices snack time.

 

 

After 11 am we decided to walk to the Mexican restaurant at the edge of our community. Papa pushing the stroller. They could have easily disappeared behind the snow piles when I took this picture.

 

 

He was very good but lunch took a little too long for him. When he had spilled some of his water he had no peace until we had given him some napkins to mop it up.

 

 

I was worried he might fall asleep in the stroller on the way back but we kept talking with him. At the house we thought maybe he would like to play a little in the snow. He was reluctant. I showed him a snow angel (this time waving the legs too) but when I asked him whether he would like to make one it was "NO".

 

 

We had promised him we would have dessert at the house and we all had yoghurts with fruit. He could not decide between peach, blueberry or strawberry. He was so funny. He was tasting in the round until ours were gone and I helped him get to the bottom of his.

Then he told me he wanted his diaper changed and he knew his crib was upstairs for his nap. But Papa had to help him fall asleep again. The boys are so different.

 

 

He slept more then 2 hours and Sarah had time for a coffee, snow cream and tea before they left for home.

James suggested another walk which we promptly did. Felt good. The mountains of snow are definitely already a little smaller. Let the melting continue!

And this was THE BIG SNOW OF 2016.

 

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