Always winter, and never Christmas

Our weekend in New Orleans felt like just the right length of time away, but it's never nice to return to Narnia under the reign of the White Witch -- where it is always winter, but never Christmas.

The frost level in the ground is 4 feet deep.  Friends have had their pipes burst, and ice dams on their roof. One friend's daughter's roof collapsed, and the ceiling came down on her newborn twins' nursery.  Thankfully, they were not in it at the time.

The first day I was back at the homeless shelter where I volunteer, I passed these poor trucks on the street.

I have no idea how long it would take them to dig out.  The snow is like an archeological dig: some soft and drifty, layers of ice, and all that yucky, crunchy dirt from the plow. Meanwhile, my son continues to have fun in the winter weather.

I, however, wander around singing Christina Rosetti's classic, "In the Deep Midwinter," and trying not to sound too mournful:

In the deep midwinter, frosty wind laid low

Earth stood hard as iron, Water like a stone

Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow

In the deep midwinter, (unfortunately, not) long ago.

Friends in Ireland are posting pictures of crocuses peeking up through warm, brown dirt. Crocuses!! I can't even remember what warm, brown dirt is like! Although, we had a rip-roaring thunderstorm a few days ago, complete with dramatic lightening, I still can't see anything outside, but crusty snow and empty branches.

On the work front, I am having a lovely time, researching, charting and knitting mittens. I regularly am emailing back and forth with curators and friends in Norway, Finland and Paris. I turned in a knitted project to Piecework last week, and have another getting ready for May publication. I have the article yet to complete, and three other book projects and two articles to tackle.

I am also negotiating with a couple Nordic events regarding knitting classes, and other venues as well.  

The kids have had a crazy schedule since Christmas break: nine snow days, I think, and countless 2-hour delays.  My work has really suffered from it. Starting tomorrow, the administration is implementing a "make-up" plan that will add the missed hours before spring testing: they will add 43 minutes to each school day.

I'm hoping I can add that productivity to my day, as well.