Out of the Snow and a trip to North Carolina

Today is Wednesday, Feb 17. There is still snow on the ground. There is still snow in the parking lot. Not much snow removal happening. Here are my Project 365 photos for the last week or so:

Thursday, Feb 11, 2010: The car is free!! Our next door neighbors helped us dig out one last time, and gave the car big pushes as I backed it out of the space. I couldn't believe we were finally unstuck! I wanted to drive around the block in victory but settled instead for re-parking in a spot with less snow. The photo is taken from inside the space my car had occupied.
Friday, February 12, 2010: With my newfound freedom, I drove to North Carolina to visit my aunt Kim's family. On Friday I drove with Kim all over Durham, and watched the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Alexa was home from college, and generally had a great time laying next to Kim and poking her. Because that's why you come home from college--to bug your mom.
Saturday, February 13: Snow followed me to North Carolina. I kid you not. When I woke up, there was about 2 inches of snow on the ground. Luckily, it hadn't stuck to the roads, so I was able to drive towards Raleigh to meet my friend Sarah R. Sarah and I met in the 7th grade orchestra cello section, where she called me "Albert" and we drove the conductor to distraction. We had a few classes together in high school, notably one our senior year called "Minority Issues," where we fended off a large group of ignorant boys who seemed to have a problem with minorities. That teacher was nearly driven to retirement. We reconnected through blogging, I think, and it was great to see eachother in person.
Saturday afternoon, my family and I went to see Valentine's Day, which is a movie, for those of you who do not follow these things (like myself). It's a lot like Love Actually, but takes place in America on Valentine's Day. It was quite cute. We all liked it, and followed the movie with a great Greek dinner. Here Alaina is waiting for Al and Alexa to come back with the car.
Sunday, February 14, 2010: Happy Valentine's Day! Even the cats were feeling the love. I lie. This is Gizmo playing with Puppy, the kitten. This kitten is so cute! It's like having a toddler in the house--he wants to play all the time. I spent much of the weekend petting 2 of the 4 cats and playing with Puppy.
Kim gave my hair a deep conditioning treatment, and then Alaina straightened it. She is really good at hair, and it was fun to step into her space for a bit. We had some good chats while she straightened, and it ended up looking great.

I came back to Bethesda on Sunday in anticipation of bad weather on Monday. Instead of bad weather came bad health: Kim and I had different versions of Norovirus. It was unpleasant. So I spent Monday and Tuesday in bed instead of taking pictures. Still not feeling 100%, and trying to figure out what is the next step in terms of bland food after egg noodles with olive oil and parm cheese with a little tofu. Pho? Pizza? Curry? (Just kidding about the last 2, Jill and Miriam!)

A passage from a book I just read, by Mimi Sheraton, a life-long food writer and former NYTimes restaurant critic:

"My ability to identify what i was eating reached its peak one evening when I was reviewing the Japanese noodle soup reataurant Omen in New York's SoHo. We were six altogether, Dick and I with Marc and another couple with their daughter. We shared a number of small dishes before trying the soups and because the two teenagers were ravenous, offerings on the tiny plates disappeared faster than you could say sayonara. Still hungry, I spotted what looked like shaved white diakon radish in soy sauces. Reaching over with chopsticks, I snared the mound and began to eat it when I noticed something strange. 'This tastes like paper soaked in soy sauce,' I announced. Looking up, Dick said, 'You are eating my napkin!'"

In other news, my car is finally unstuck.

Snowpocalypse!

So as you all know, we have been experiencing a weather phenomenon here in DC known as Snowpocalypse. It is now Wednesday, February 10. It is my second snow day this week. This weather event has been going on since mid-morning on Friday, February 5. During this time I have taken up permanent residence on my couch, and have fully explored the wardrobe possibilities of pajamas. Here is a re-cap of the last 6 days.

Friday, February 5: I only had an hour left to work, so I stayed home and waited for the storm. I decided to go the library as a last foray into society to stock up on a few DVDs and books. Me and everyone else in Bethesda. Never have I seen a line more than 4 people in the library. There were about 20 people ahead of me. The only DVDs to be had were obscure foreign films about death and apocalypse. Although the latter topic seemed appropriate, I opted instead for a nice stack of books. As I left the library at 11am the flurries started.

The snow didn't start sticking until 3pm. I cooked a nice dinner, and Daniella and I cozied up on the couch for a movie. About every 20 minutes one of us got up from the couch, looked out the window and remarked, "wow! It's really coming down!" After the movie we stood by the window for about 30 minutes watching a couple dig out their car. It had already accumulated about a foot and showed no signs of slowing. We were glued to the window as they used a broom and an ice scraper to clear off their car, then trudged back to the apartment. Definitely a futile exercise.

Saturday, February 6: We woke up to this:
It looks like rain, but I think it was drops of ice on the window. It was still snowing. We had a relaxing day. At about 3pm, the snow stopped. At 4, we decided to go out and play. This is our street:
Daniella in front of our building
As we walked down the street, we saw a group of 3 people with sleds. "Where are you sledding?" we called. "By NIH," they answered, "want to come with us?" So we followed the 3 strangers halfway around NIH, tramping through the snow in tracks made by other prospective sledders.
It was really pretty, and the snow was pristine in between the tracks. And very deep.
We walked for what felt like several miles and found a gentle slope. We slid down on sleds, slowly, and got tips from a 10 year old. The strangers were really friendly--2 international post-docs at NIH and another woman from Europe (Germany, perhaps). There was much laughter. As it got dark, Daniella and I tramped back. This table outside the nursing home on our street shows the amount of snowfall.
Despite being sort of wet following sledding in jeans, we wanted hot chocolate, and so ventured into Bethesda proper.
In the park, this snowman had an evergreen shock of hair. In Bethesda, lots of people were out, walking in the street, which was empty of cars. Everyone was friendly and smiling, happy to be out of their house. The Tastee Diner was "the only game in town," as the owner reminded everyone who walked in. "We're understaffed and running really slow," was the rest of the greeting. Our waitress was relieved that we only ordered hot chocolate. Although the diner was hopping, it was almost silent inside. I think everyone had run out of things to say to eachother over the day trapped inside.

Sunday, February 7: The day dawned clear and sunny, so Rowan and I headed into DC to play on the Mall. On the walk, Rowan felt inspired to make a snow angel:

Lots of people were out and about, cross-country skiing, walking, and playing. An active game of tackle football was underway against the background of the Natural History Museum.
For the most part, we walked along paths tromped down by previous walkers, but we decided to cross at a less-defined path. Look how high the snow comes up on my leg!
Every once in a while, we would look up from our careful stepping, and realize, "wow! We're on the MALL!"

We came upon some people building an adult snowman...er...snowwoman. It reminds me of a mug I have that says "Equal Rights for Snowwomen!" and features a snowperson with boobs.
Walking back to town for chai and salty oat cookies at Teaism. Perfect way to end a snowy outing.
Monday, February 8: Snow Day! This fact definitely called for use of one of the names of this storm: Snowgasm. This quickly turned to SnOMG (either Snow My G-d or Snow-M-G) when I decided to shovel out my car. Check this out!!!
I had parked in this spot because the sun often hits it, and I thought it might help melt out my car. Indeed, it did clear off the car somewhat. But what I failed to take into consideration was the snow that fell off the roof, pinning my car to the parking lot. And look at how much snow was in front of the car, before we could even start properly digging. Luckily, a worker from the apartment helped us shovel to the car, which we thought would be half the battle. We were wrong.
In this picture I am standing on the snow next to my car. The car was so stuck, I cannot even tell you. After 2 hours of digging with borrowed shovels, we called it quits and went to Rock Bottom for soft pretzels. It was almost funny. It would have been funnier if we had gotten the car out.

Tuesday, February 9: Car still stuck. Office open. I worked from home, which was quite productive, though seriously boring. I missed the fun dynamic of the office. I don't think I would want to work from home long term. After work, I shoveled some more with the help of my neighbor LL. The car was almost out, but then it started snowing again. I walked down to the post office. Look how bad the roads still are.
This city has such poor snow removal.

Now it is snowing again. Blustering, big flakes. I can barely see out my window. Snoverkill? I think so.

Project 365: Jan 29-Feb 4 2010

Friday, Jan 29: I don't know if I actually took a photo this day. We went to a very cool after school program to vaccinate at-risk middle schoolers and teens. I really admire their program and am thinking about volunteering there. Here is a card I made with my V-Day set and some patterned paper from AC Moore.
Saturday, Jan 30: Snowed all day. I had to get out of the house after spending most of the week in bed or on the couch. Walking to Caribou Coffee to write some letters, I came across a couple who had a unique answer to the snow. They're garbage bags, in case you couldn't tell. People here don't quite know how to handle snow. You can also see that the streets are not plowed at all.
Sunday, Jan 31: Miriam came over. We made chocolate-chip cookies and hung out on the couch. We don't hang out at eachother's houses as much now that we're grown-up (?). We decided we miss it.
Monday, February 1: We got some accumulation of snow that Saturday! It looked pretty out my office window.
Tuesday, February 2: My roommate Daniella. We had just finished watching Something's Gotta Give, which I liked quite a bit. It was about the 5th time Daniella had seen the second half of it. She has yet to see the beginning. Her hair is usually curly, but was straightened by one of the "Miss"es at her school.
Wednesday, February 3: We got a lot of snow on Tuesday night, but the roads were merely wet the next morning, so it was no trouble to get to work. Both the Montgomery and PW County schools were closed, but the Federal and State governments were not. The ride to work was beautiful with the snow just sitting on the branches.
Thursday, February 4: Asher's eyes were dry today, so Bobbi attempted to put eyedrops in his eyes. This was about as successful as it looks in this photo. I love how much we laugh in my office.

Today we also had a vaccination clinic at the Senior Center, which is like a JCC for seniors. They have all sorts of classes, crafts, computers, fitness equipment, and an area to hang out. Most of the seniors who got vaccinated knew eachother and were kibbitzing while filling out their forms. It is so encouraging to see seniors who are active and social. I really do interact with a limited age range usually. I was helping one of the men fill out his form and he was flirting with me to beat the band! We had a good time at the Senior Center.

They are predicting a big storm starting tomorrow late morning. I braved Trader Joe's to pick up a few things. They were out of most everything--basically all carbohydrates and milk. People are so funny about snow here. I was getting non-emergency food like feta cheese, salsa and soy cheese (for Daniella), so I was ok. I am stocked with at-home activities for tomorrow and Saturday--movies, a book and cards to make!

Stay warm!

On loss, in a different way

I recently received a Facebook message from an old friend. At one point, she had been very dear to me, one of the most important people in my life. Some happenings in her current life made her think of me, and she actually reached out and contacted me. How often does this happen, that something reminds us of someone who was once in our lives and has drifted out? And yet, how often do we take any action to reconnect? Speaking for myself, hardly ever. This friend's message makes me think of all of the other people I have let drift away--people with whom I shared history, experience, connection. People who at one time, were central in my life. In a few cases, we've grown apart, but in most cases it is a negligence, on my part, on their part; a feeling that maybe too much time has passed to sew our separated lives back together. Perhaps that is the truth, but in how many of these friendships is that not true, how often would it take just an email, how often would it be a seamless reworking? How many friends have I lost to the fear that it is too late to try? Who do I still stand to lose in this way?

What I've been up to in the last week or so

As you can see, I have taken an unplanned and unexcused blogging hiatus. I will, at some point, update with the last few months, but I wanted to update with the last week or so. Basically, I have been sick. I have something that started as a sore throat and is now a wicked sinus infection. It feels like small men under my cheeks are making snow angels wearing cleats. I'm not so sick that I have to sleep all the time, but not quite well enough to be up and about. I have watched an entire season of The L Word and made a lot of cards.

Winter Sims, a card blogger (I think her name is the coolest) is holding a card drive for Texas Children's Hospital. Valentine's Day cards only, no get-well sorts of messages. With my awesome new Papertrey Ink stamp set, I made a bunch of cards to send her.
One of my favorites of the bunch. It says in red "some bunny loves u" and the bunny's tail is a heart. I am having a blast with these stamps. Thanks Poppa!
I have also organized my craft desk. Look how much desk space I have! And now I don't have to put my paper cutter on the floor--it can always be just where I need it.
I made a birthday card for my friend Amanda. I am excited about using those polka dots! They are actually flower centers.
I have only been at work 2 days this week. A flock of geese has taken up residence at the pond across the way. Yesterday they suddenly and menacingly started to advance towards my window. Turns out there is a strip of very green grass under it.
So that's about all there is to report. I am going to see a doctor tomorrow. I hope this goes away soon. I feel like such a wussy staying home from work and being in my pj's all day.

Totally Hectic

It's been a hectic week. I have worked some very long days, and the work has been mentally and emotionally tiring. I'm so far over my hours for this week that I came home today after only 3 hours and am now in bed. I am debating forcing myself to take a nap. I don't nap very readily, so it is a struggle to just lay down and close my eyes and still my mind. Even more of a struggle to actually fall asleep.

The main thing notable/sharable since Sarah left has been Daniella's and my discovery of Veggie Tales. Her piano student's mom recommended the song "oh where is my hairbrush" to her, and we proceeded to watch it on YouTube two or three times in a row. And then sing it non-stop for the next day and a half. "The Pirates who don't do anything" was also a hit, especially once we figured out through google that Mr. Lunt is a decorative gourd. If you don't know what I'm talking about, google "cucumber hairbrush," and you are in for a very silly treat.

I thought I'd also post some non-Thanksgiving related pictures from Sarah's visit. In addition to cooking, Sarah and I:

Went out for coffee (twice)

Laughed and giggled

Made cards

Stayed out late in Adams Morgan over falafel and dessert (the cookie sandwich at The Diner)

And saw more of those green balls, both in living sculpture

and store window plastic

I will now start a label for those green balls, as they seem to come up with inordinate frequency.