Thursday, March 4th, 2010 Yesterday, after the reading at the Library of Congress, Colleen treated us to lunch at a Chinese restaurant. (I got “Happy Family,” btw, one of my favorites.) And, of course, at the end, we were treated to fortune cookies.
I’ve talked before on my blog about fortune cookies. I’m certain it won’t be the last time. [Because Chinese, like cheese and chocolate, is one of the four major food groups. (The fourth is salt.)]
Here’s a photo of my cookie…and for the record, there were seven fortunes inside, although some were duplicated.
(Yes, dear Broads, I smuggled that cookie into my purse and managed not to crush it during the LC tour, the crushing metro ride, or eventual drive home. And I was hungry on the drive home…very hungry.)
And, poor thing, after surviving the humiliating and cramped confines of my purse, I made it pose on a red background like some harlot, for your viewing pleasure.
Then I ate it.
(And it wasn’t stale it all…which is kind of scary, really, if you think about it, considering it had been nearly nine hours from lunch until photo shoot. Fortune cookies must have the same half-life as Twinkies™.)
Monday, February 15th, 2010  …enough already!
We get the picture. There’s no such thing as global warming.
Now, please stop.
Signed,
The Northeastern United States and Beyond
Just when I thought it was safe to go outside again…the snow makes another appearance. It’s hard to believe it’s snowing again (and that another storm is predicted for next weekend).
We’ve had a bit of thaw since the last, but not much.
Most of the road are finally clear. The animals have just started venturing out again.
I’m really not up to shoveling anymore.
[The pic was taken by a friend of the family down in southern Maryland on Thursday 2/11/2010.]
Tuesday, February 9th, 2010 We were hit with just shy of 30 inches of snow on Friday and Saturday. It was undeniably pretty…for about the first 10 inches…and then things got hairy.
Luckily, we didn’t lose power (as we have so many times)–there’s a reason we keep a generator handy in the garage. But keeping up with the shoveling proved exhausting.
We have a huge snowblower – you’ll see why we do in the driveway picture below….our drive is more than 400 feet long and has an incline of about 30 degrees. It’s no easy feat to clear off after a big snow.
When a big snow comes along, we blow it off every few hours…but this storm came through in the wee hours of the morning. We focused on keeping the heat pumps clear. We still couldn’t keep the ice from forming on them.
To get to the snow early Saturday morning, we had to shovel a path for the blower to go up the drive. Then we could let it do its work…but the wet, slushy snow underneath couldn’t be thrown.
Here’s a shot of my husband’s hands nearly an hour after we’d come in. Four-plus hours of shoveling and snow-blower wrangling will do this to you. I shoveled just as much, but my hands weren’t so bad.
We managed to clear a path wide enough for a vehicle, but the pad below and the sides of the drive we let go. Finally, we called a snow plow to do the rest of the work.
Here are some shots of the snow around the area, nothing pretty…just a few photos to show you the depth.
| These are our electrical and cable boxes, nearly covered in snow. |
| The view up my driveway…after we finally hired someone with a snow plow to clear what we were too exhausted to manage. |
| The Great Wall of Snow created by the snow plow. I’m convinced that if the plow had done the job from the beginning, this wall would have been over six feet, not just chest high. |
It’s currently snowing…and the weather guys are predicting 10-to-18 more inches. Should be interesting!
Wednesday, January 27th, 2010 …when it is 5:20 a.m. and I am the only driver on our lonely rural road, please don’t pull out in front of me, hazard lights blinking, and proceed to drive at 10 miles an hour less than the 30 m.p.h. speed limit. Don’t you realize this is how road rage begins?
It’s especially painful to me when you do this, because I know I’m barred from passing you over the double-yellow line which stripes this entire road–for miles.
In the future, please wait until I pass, and then feel free pull out of your driveway onto the clear and open tarmac.
Don’t add insult to injury by coming to a complete stop on the narrowest part of the road — the tree-lined area by the bridge that crosses the creek — where oncoming traffic is difficult to see on a clear day. Even at 5:30 a.m., with few cars on the road, I’m reluctant to go around you — despite the fact that after a moment of waiting, you’ve rolled down the window and are waving me by.
50 Miles Later…
…when you are going to miss your exit off the highway because you’re in the hammer lane and want to drive 90 miles an hour, (and cars on the road are as thick as buzzards on fresh roadkill)…
…please don’t careen across four lanes of traffic, causing multiple fender benders and jackknifed tractor trailer trucks. Yes, I know it could have been worse, and I wasn’t involved in those incidents, but surely you see the wisdom of easing over gently and playing the cloverleaf?
A few turns around the exit ramps would put you right where you want to be, and would only delay your commute by two minutes or so. Although, at the speed you drive, I’d bet it wouldn’t cost you more than a moment of time.
Giving a passing thought to your fellow journeymen on the road to the big city every morning will ensure a happy commute for all. Please consider it.
Friday, January 1st, 2010 
Wishing you a safe, happy, healthy and prosperous 2010!
Wednesday, December 30th, 2009 So i wandered over to Simon Haynes’ Hal Spacejock web site to see when the new book was coming out (2010) and decided to take The Exam.
I passed with flying colors…and the Gold Nut Award has been conferred upon me:
I love, love, love Hal Spacejock…and his sidekick robot, Clunk. (Well, I probably love Clunk more, truth be told.)
If you like dry, witty humor, it’s right up your alley. And you can read the first book for free over at Simon’s sight. Check it out…and then try the nuts test (as Simon calls it) yourself!
Friday, December 25th, 2009  I hope Santa brought everyone everything they wanted!
My Christmas wishes have been granted: my family is here, we’re all safe and healthy, and there is snow all over the place–left over from last week’s storm. (So, while we’re having a white Christmas, we’re not dealing with any new stuff on the roads.)
The only thing that could have made it better, were if I were not still wrapping this morning!
Merry, merry, everyone!
Saturday, December 19th, 2009 The snow started last night around 10:30 p.m. We’ve got more than a foot of snow piled up, according to the gauge on the deck…and it doesn’t show signs of stopping.
Wind is blowing the snow off the deck rails (causing poor visibility so evident in the first photo), so judging the depth of snowfall from there is deceptive. It wouldn’t surprise me if we got the “possibly 18 inches” the weather-folk were predicting for our area.
It’s cold outside, so the snow is dry. Not good for snowmen. (Alas. I was really looking forward to building a snow family!)
I took this photo from a protected location. No snow-blow on the lense, so the photo is better…unfortunately, it doesn’t give an accurate depiction of the weather conditions.
Monday, December 7th, 2009
I’m remembering history today, as the attack occurred decades before I was born. I can only imagine the anguish it caused– and the sheer pissed-offed-ness — that this kind of attack engenders…
Thank you, WWII Veterans. Thank you, service men and women of today.
Saturday, December 5th, 2009 I spent a few hours at the Greenbelt Festival of Lights, Arts and Craft Fair today with fellow members of the Maryland Writers Association. We sold some books, chatted with lots of people and (I think) had a good time.
I know I did.
If you’re in the area, and have some time, you might want to stop in…I could have spent some serious cash on pottery, jewelry and books – in the “Humanities” room – which is where we were, along with the Greenbelt Writers Association.
(I did buy a necklace from Jellybug Artworks. VERY KEWL. Lots of black and white bead-shaped stones whose names escape me along with a hematite pendant. You’ll probably see me wearing it at my next reading….)
The big thrill of the day was snow. We watched it turn from flakes to sleet and back to snow again in the large classroom windows of the Greenbelt Community Center.
In my neck of the woods, the weatherman was calling for “1.8” inches of snow. I laughed about this all morning. Most days, the weather-folk can’t accurately predict whether it will be rainy or clear – but today they knew were were going to get 1.8 inches. Ha.
They were partially right. I have about 8 inches of snow on my deck….(which means we probably got at least six – it tends to collect a bit more deeply on the rails…)
First snow of the season always takes my breath away…especially when it’s such a good one. I played kid again this afternoon: had a snowball fight, built a snowman (snowwoman, actually) and went sledding.
Between that, and the hour-plus drive in the snowfall on the way home…I’m done in. Nighty-night.
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Writers - Maryland Writer's Assn.
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