A Wicked Cold Trip and Quite a Few Holidays

Yeah, it looks all magical but don't let that fool you!  I'm just trying to find a way to enjoy the endless white blobs tumbling from the sky...
And speaking of fools, guess who was crazy enough to brave the dangerous low temperatures and outlandishly high winds to drive to New York state and take a train into New York City on Sunday? Artists will do anything to open their mouths in public and yap about their work! I was a-feared that Bob (mostly the sensible one) would say "Ix-Nay" to our plans to go to NYC, but he was game and I adore him for so supportive. We (obviously) made it there and back so there must be some truth to the rumor that God protects fools, drunk and artists.
Lookee here:

This wasn't even the worst! It was 8 below one morning but my camera battery went dead and I couldn't find the extra battery and charger (plugged into the bedroom wall, behind a painting). I debated drawing a picture of the negative reading, but thought no one would believe it- sort of an "artist's rendering". But there you have it! Evidence! (as if we needed any).
The gallery talk was great. I had asked Ellen (artist/friend/gallerist) to not ask me to speak first, so I could gauge what the other artists said and how they said it. I needn't have worried as we went alphabetically (I'm always last) and I quickly realized that we were all on the same page and we all sounded very erudite and like we knew what we were doing. It was fun and well worth risking frostbite and death through exposure. (Don't ask about the walk back from the train to the truck...)

Maybe because the day before was Valentine's Day and Bob and I were warm and fueled by love and delicious food, but it was a really great weekend. We then celebrated Mardi Gras/ Fat Tuesday a day early as more awful weather was planned for Tuesday. It didn't really happen but is any one out there sorry we didn't get another foot of snow?

Not Going Any Where- Fast or Otherwise

How's that for a metaphor for our lives at present? A snowed in door! And the drift of snow is not the only impediment! That icicle to the left is ominous. I'm not going to further regale my audience with further woes of winter's tales... except that I'm scheduled to participate in an artist's talk on Sunday at Odetta Gallery in Brooklyn and it's supposed to be like 4 degrees with 70 mile an hour winds and maybe (aaaarrrrggggh!) more snow!!
But we'll take one day at a time... be all Zen. Maybe the gods will smile and will send us blue skies and happier trails. We can only hope!
But Bob, thinking ahead as tomorrow is supposed to bring us more.... flowers! Saturday is bringing us flowers! Saturday is Valentine's Day, after all.

Look at that lovely bouquet! I'm so happy! Beautiful, colorful, amazing flowers. Temporarily, my winter dreads have been driven away. For the next 24  hours, I promise to not innumerate the various and many things that my gloves stuck to this morning while delivering Maggie her morning water: the gate, the barn door, the stall bucket handle, the outside bucket (pulling the glove right off my hand), the outside door handle- and on and on. I literally froze to everything. But banish that thought. Tonight through tomorrow, I promise to vacation in my mind. But come Sunday, I'll be crazy mad if the weather doesn't cooperate. How long can this last?!?!?!

Happy Valens Gras/ Mardi Tart's Day!

Because I had to rearrange my work schedule (again) due to freezing rain and because I thought I was having a yoga class on Tuesday night (cancelled due to continued snow removal), Bob and I chose to celebrate Fat Tuesday and Valentine's Day as a sort of ComboHoliday last night (that would be Wednesday). We had this truly beautiful and utterly delicious quiche that Bob whipped up. I can think of a few other things that Bob wanted to whip...
Like the Price Gougin', Fast Talkin' Pugnacious Snow Plowin' A- Hole that tried to rip us off. Don't get either one of us started! The punchline is that after several calls from me, the neighbors and Bob, this little creep actually showed up at our doorstep and returned our check. I seriously suspect that he was worried that we'd report him to the better Business Bureau or the Attorney General's office. People who take advantage of people suck. I think we'll try and buy a snow blower. Or maybe teach Maggie to drag the driveway; isn't that what they used to do?
Of course, now I'm pulling phone numbers out of the local paper for snow plow possibles if we're unlucky enough to have more excrement fall from the sky this winter. What about that stinkin' groundhog? Didn't he predict that spring was right around the corner? And we're supposed to have very cold temperatures this weekend and maybe more snow early next week...