In Which I Remember To Explain Why I'm Here

You may or may not recall back in November (the first time I came to visit Thrasher in the Land of Frozen Cow Poo) that there had not been enough money minted since the invention of money to tempt me to visit these arctic climes during snow season. Turns out that my price has nothing to do with money. All it took to get me up here was a sisterly plea and a chance to stay with my littlest buddy: seven month old Thrasher. My sister (Tidget) and her hubby (let's call him Green Man because he is ALL about the environment) are a)Thrasher's parents and b)in France for a week. To find a place to live. As in LIVE all the time - not like a second home or anything. My sister - by the way - took Spanish in high school. Not because she liked Spanish, but because a language was required and Spanish was supposed to be easier than French or Latin. She took her minimal two years (and if she got more than a C, I don't remember it.) My sister is plenty smart and a very hard worker - but languages weren't her thing. At all. And that's probably because my sister and I divided up the world evenly from the time we were kids. We are two years apart (I'm older) and we look somewhat alike (except she looks older which I used to hate and now love) and consequently, we did everything in our power to be as different from each other as possible. Languages were my thing. By the time I'd graduated from high school I'd taken five years of French, two years of Latin, and a year of Italian. Then I was a Russian linguist and ended up with a degree in French Language and Literature. And guess who is moving to France? (Hint: not me. But I definitely plan to visit.) Life is a little crazy sometimes, the way it works out, don't you think? Anyhoo, that's how I came to be here, in the coldest place I've ever been - while back at home it's been almost 70 degrees every day. But I'm not complaining (even though it sounds an awful lot like I am).

How could it not be worth it? I mean, in addition to learning what life is like on other planets, I get to snuggle with my nephew. This little dude is my buddy Thrasher. (That's not his real name - that's just my name for him. My seester would hate it so of course I can't resist.) Don't you just want to kiss him? Or drive him to playschool through snow drifts?




Yeah, well if you answered 'yes' to that last question, have I got a deal for you. Voila Saint Solida! While she looks like a hearse in this picture, she's really a fantastic car. (A Volvo! Hey, St. Ann Pan! I'm driving a blue Volvo kinda like yours.) With heated seats. Heated. Seats. I worship the person who invented heated seats! And even though my buddy in Atlanta has them in his cute, little, souped up Saturn Vue - it is SO not the same. Here having your tushy warm while driving is not disconcerting and odd, it's miraculous. (Side note: the snowy lump on the other side is a Subaru. I'm convinced you can't get Vermont citizenship without owning at least one Subaru with ski racks on top.)


Here is the BEFORE shot of the icicles. It is also before eight inches of snow fell in one night. If we wanted to be all chronological about it, I should have posted Saint Solida last but I have a feeling I'm pushing my luck with Blogger as it is.

And then the AFTER shot.

As I said yesterday the ARTY IN BETWEEN shot is missing. It would have been cool if I had snapped a pic as an icicle was plunging towards the lens, but umm...that didn't happen. (Snow on my butt as I fell backwards, that's what happened but I don't have a pic of that either.) I had wanted a better picture of the way the icicles looked in a row on the ground, but after this close up of the smashed ice shards, my camera froze. Literally. I thought it had run out of batteries. And I hate to tell you, but I'm not a dedicated enough photographer to drive 45 minutes to buy new batteries just so I can put more pictures on my blog! No siree. (But then the next day I forgot all about the dead battery issue and ran out to record the insane amount of snow fall and guess what? The batteries were fine. The ever helpful ladies at daycare were the ones to explain that I needed a warmer for my camera if I wanted to take more icicle pictures. I really don't know what to make of Vermonters.)

After all that advice and my icy near impalement experience, I think I'm going to stay inside, crank up the heat, and sketch out some quilt ideas until Saint Solida and I have to veture back to daycare to get Thrasher.

Peace y'all.