Snow Day

4-15-14  At this point, all I can do is try to laugh instead of cry. These poor flowers. Frozen clean through.

Saddest of all is this lone frozen trillium. I can't remember the trilliums ever freezing before.



The weatherman is having a field day with his stats:

Chicago's heaviest late season snow in 34 years (yesterday & last night's 1.4") and this area's only snow this heavy to occur within 3 days of an 80-deg temp over the city's 129-year observational record of snowfall has been followed Tuesday by February-level temps! This chill is close to "near-record" intensity. Tuesday's 36 missed the 1928 record low max of 34 by just 2 deg and equals the "normal high" Feb on 16. The overnight low of 27 missed the 71 year old record of 26 for the date by just 1-degree!


Whatever, weatherman.   Give me some good news.

A lovely quick trip

We swooped into LA, drove south to Huntington Beach, and Em played in a very competitive Women's tournament on a perfect day. We met some old and new friends, good people. It was a great trip, but a blur.

She and her partner, who just met, finished third, only losing to one team.

Everyone keeps asking why she doesn't come out for the summer to train. It's the place to be.

I'll be struggling with that one. I love it there too. Plus there's some people I've known forever online that I'd love to meet for reals and some sights I'd like to see. I've driven past Arboretums, Museums, Parks and Nature Preserves wishing I had more time. At least we got plenty of time on the beach.

This is what it looks like here for another month or so, and we have snow and lows in the 20's this week.

Our drive to this lovely but lonely beach for practice is over 2 hours each way and it sucks. 

But it's what we do now.

We are both beat today, maybe a little jet lagged.  We're leaving again in three days for a week, half family visit, half college visit.  Then a couple of weeks off  for finals before heading out again and really picking up the travel and tournament pace. I think the next six months will be a blast but a blur.

If I'm inconsistent posting, reading and commenting it's because I need another me to help out with everything right now: parenting, work, travel, life. 

Busy is my word for 2014. And maybe tired.

But it's a good tired.

xo

A Day at the Beach

Oh my. Our first outside sand volleyball practice this year. Three parents, one coach, two determined girls, at the Lake Michigan beach in April, fleeting sun and brisk winds, the lake ice finally melted.

It was a chilly Sunday afternoon, but a good one.

And a funny one too:




But they worked hard, and had a great time.



It's going to be a great summer, that's our plan.

Sandy toes. Surf. Seagulls. Sunshine. Smiles. Volleyball.

 It's a very good plan.

Next stop:  Huntington Beach California on Friday, then Delaware and Florida the following week.

Busy is good, right?

Spring Solstice Surprise

Just before bed last night I read the weather predictions for Friday - our first 60 degree day of 2014.

Today I woke up to snow. It's still snowing. I took pictures but I'm not even going to post them.

Sheese.  Doesn't feel that magical today.

I am going to waste time this morning plotting my eventual relocation somewhere south of here.

:)

March Magic

A long and rambling post......

This morning we awoke to yet another winter wonderland, one of this season's loveliest of snowfalls. Wet, gentle snow, laid down on every surface with no wind to muss it up.

It is a blessing, all this beauty, fresh and new fallen, because yesterday as I traveled around my little local towns, the muddy, grimy, sooty, trash laden, soggy, sodden, gritty, gosh awful ugliness of very old snow was everywhere. My daughter and I agreed that it was the worst part of the late winter thaw, the dirty snowmelt, and the mud behind it.

Like magic, our world transformed while we slept.

So yes. This morning was magically fresh and clean. In my bathrobe, I threw on boots and a scarf and stomped around with my camera as the sun rose slowly. The wind creaked and cracked in the trees, birds chirped nearby and far off, I could hear neighbors shoveling their walks. I let mine be, except for a quick sweep by the door, because this is just a few inches, and will likely be melted by tomorrow.

Life is too short to shovel snow when you could be crunching about in the magic of it, camera in hand.

See?

Here's what it sounded/looked like:



The wind is starting to pick up, so this fairy dusting will slowly blow away. March is a windy month around here, blowing in colder, warmer, colder, warmer air. It is a rollercoaster, but we are used to it. I just need the roads to stay clear, because tonight is one of my long treks to sand volleyball practice with my daughter, 90 miles each way on 4 different high traffic interstates. I'm getting pretty good at it, and am very careful, not to worry.

In unrelated news, today is March 12. Twelve is my favorite number and the day I'm sure I was supposed to be born on, not the 11th. I'd change it if I could, just so all the numbers in my birthday have a common denominator, which is 3 which is 1 + 2 which looks like 12, which makes me happy in a strange way. Odd, I know.  My whole family has odd little quirks, so I don't question it.

My dad counted things, everything, and he was very good with money and math in his head. And he did this thing with his fingers all the time, touching each one to his thumb up and down his hand, as though he was counting, but not, just doing that thing with his hand. He said it soothed him, and didn't hurt as much as banging his head against the wall like he did as a kid when he couldn't sleep. I'm glad that one skipped me, the head banging. The not sleeping thing I believe is a family curse. No one in my side of the family is well rested, that I know of. My kids, like my husband, are great sleepers and I'm grateful they got that gene. I'm so tired lately I marvel that I can make coherent sentences, or function without being mean or crying too much.

We get what we get, don't we? It's a mystery.

I was reminiscing through my past March posts, so I could confirm that I'm almost always looking at Spring wildflowers now, not snow, and I was right about that.  Sigh. Soon....

I forget half the stuff I post, so it's always a surprise diving into my archives. In March 2010, I wrote 9 blog posts, one of which included my baby picture and a 50 year old selfie. Here's my 54 year old self. A little grayer and wrinklier, but still me, mostly.

In March 2012, I only wrote two blog posts,  so I'm way ahead of schedule here. I wrote one about the unusually mild, warm weather, with pictures of my wildflowers, which I can hardly imagine, and one about having the guts to make change in my life, and about gratitude for all that is good.  I just rewatched the TED talk embedded in my guts and gratitude post and it was just what I needed today. Here is Louie's wonderful 10 minute video, one of my favorite TED talks if you need it today too.


)


Today will be a good day for me, because I have already opened my eyes and I am grateful.

I reserve the right to be cranky later, when weather and traffic and fatigue and the unbearable and unspeakable sadness my new friends are enduring grind me down, but I'm going to do my best to hang on to the gratitude and the beauty.

xo

ps Youtube is having a bad day, so if the video links don't work right now, it's not us, it's them. :)