Winter, Finally

8:00

No Man Is An Island

It's delicious to wake up to a snow covered yard, trees, and roofs.  The snow started yesterday morning and continued on and off almost all day.  We probably have five or six inches of white and I cannot wait to go for a walk in the woods.  I was even excited to go out and shovel our driveway yesterday afternoon.  It's a chilly 23º at the moment, and we may have more a few more flurries today.

We must be slow learners because we were still confusing days, thinking yesterday, a Friday, was Saturday.  That's what a four day weekend does to our minds, used to two day weekend.  Anyways, I know today is Saturday, as I just finished listening to Only A Game on NPR.  Yesterday it began to snow around 10:00, so what did we do?  Put on our boots, hats and gloves, and go for a walk in the woods, running into our neighbor Jim Fox on our walk.  It was one of those bitter, windy days, with snow hitting our faces that so reminds us of our lives here at the lake, especially on weekends, when we would love the walks along Lakeside Drive in the cold.  It was always a delightful respite from our working week in Ohio, where we spent most of the day inside.  It was a good way to start our day, begin the New Year.

Loving Snow And Winter

Woods

The rest of the day was spent as usual, reading, having lunch, taking a nap, watching Ohio State beat Notre Dame on the tube, nothing exciting.  We had no plans for the day until the Fox's, our neighbors here for the weekend from Cleveland Heights, invited us over for appetizers and wine around 5:00. They love the lake as much as we do and try to come up most weekends, even in the winter.  So we were excited to go, arriving at 5:00 sharp.  They had a 'real fire' going in their fireplace and a table full of appetizers, like sauerkraut balls, olive tapenade, and various other goodies.  We had not seen them for a couple of months because we have been on the road, so it was good to catch up.  The Kinney's, other neighbors from Chesterland, also up for a short weekend, came over so it was a fun way to start the New Year.  They are the couple that hold the Fox's clambake in their garage each fall.

Snowfall  At Night

We stayed till about 7:00 as everyone seemed tired out, no doubt, from New Year's Eve celebrations.  We then relaxed in our living room with a manhattan and cheese and crackers, watching it snow, listening to the wind howl.  We loved it.  Because we had heavy appetizers, we put off our pork and sauerkraut dinner until today and had a light dinner, Evie's vegetable soup and some leftover pizza, just right.  It was a fun day, seeing our friends, ending with a snowstorm, a mannie, and Evie's soup.

Buffleheads

Just as I finished this I looked up and a raft of bufflehead's arrived.