A Blanket of Snow!

A blanket of snow can be beautiful....and here in North Texas we have just that! BEAUTY! The still soft magical flakes have been falling steadily here at our house since 3:00 this morning. It is a Winter Wonderland out there and all the windows reflect a soft snow scene as we look out on all sides of our house. There is a hush in the neighborhood...a stillness.

I rather miss the days when I had children at home. On a day like this there would be much tracking in and out from the cold...socks would be laying out on the hearth to dry and there would have been marshmallows roasted in the fireplace as well as hot chocolate made in large batches. What I remember most fondly from past winter snow days is ....the snow ice cream! Benjamin, espcially, loved for me to make that! He would gather a huge mass of clean snow and I would add those special ingredients (sweetened condensed milk and vanilla) and whip up a big batch! I would always make enough for the whole neighborhood as we had lots of kids living here back then! Markie, Caroline and Emily next door....Brandy, Mac and Kyle across the street....and Tara, Andrew and later Bailey from the corner! What fun we all had! And of course they would build snowmen! Alas, our neighborhood is quiet this afternoon. All these children have grown up and sadly, not many have moved in to replace them. There are no snowmen on our street today...and not many footprints even! I walked to the curb to take pictures and hurried right back in to the warmth of the den fireplace!

My husband used this calm peaceful day to do what he loves best....bake! He made a couple dozen cinnamon rolls in honor of my daughter, Amber, and her husband, Mike, coming home for a visit from Scotland. They arrive tomorrow and he wanted Mike, especially. to be greeted with a batch of them. I just frosted them and now he's back in the kitchen making another double batch...this time with whole wheat flour! He is on the South Beach Diet so he figures he could eat ONE if it was made with healthier flour! All I know is it was a delight to wake up from my winter afternoon nap to the fragrant aroma of warm cinnamon rolls floating through the house!

Now to end this piece of writing with BAD news and GOOD news! The bad news is that as lovely as the blanket of snow is....it is still very heavy! I am afraid I looked out my sewing room door and beheld a drooping gazebo! Louis Dean says it has suffered a fatal blow! The good news is....we will be purchasing a NEW one soon! Our life is richer for all the gazebo sitting hours we do out there. In good weather (which means ANY time we can sit without getting really wet or really cold!) we start our day with coffee in the gazebo. That's where we do a lot of our outloud reading. In the afternoon we usually meet back there for a break from whatever work or projects we have going and at night we gather one last time for a glass of wine and quiet conversation before bed. This one has served us well and we have loved it.....but how EXCITING it will be to get a NEW one!!!