Eastern Snow Board

It's been pretty cold out here on the Eastern Snow Board the last few weeks. In fact, most mornings that I've checked our handy weather station (thanks Curtie!) it's been in the mid to high teens. For a mild Washingtonian that is mighty cold! It doesn't really thrill me to walk outside and have my cheeks immediately feel prickled by 'ol Jack Frost, so if it's going to be this cold my philosophy is: bring on the snow, baby! Given that I'm still a grad student, there is still that thrill of checking your school websites to see if classes have been canceled for the day. And sure enough, both the Seminary and University classes were closed for this Eastern-style blizzard. Yipppeee!!! That meant James and I had a lovely brunch with some friends this morning, hung out with our computers in bed, and went for a lively snow walk on the canal path behind our apartments. I say the walk was "lively" because the snow was actually pelting us in our faces from the icy wind, and little branches were breaking off from the weight of the snow in the trees. There was even some thunder in the mix. Has anyone ever heard of a thunderstorm in the middle of a blizzard? Weird. Anyhow, I tried to take some pics to capture the beauty and wonder of the snow around our house, but the rapidly falling snow made that pretty hard. Here are a few of the best ones:

This image makes me think of a "snow ballet." What is a snow ballet? not really sure, except that trees become so graceful and elegant in the snow it becomes a magical dance.

James tried to dig our car out so we could go to work, less than 1 mile away. But our car wouldn't budge.

I'm not sure if you can picture the sheer size of this snowman from this picture. but believe me, it was massive! you can see that the snowman's head reaches almost to the second floor level of the apartment building.

This is the view from our living room window - quite lovely.