DON'T YOU WISH YOU LIVED IN IOWA?

These photos were taken during our latest snowstorm.  I think it may have been the third time Randy shoveled that day.   Annie was having fun racing back and forth between Randy and me. She must be part husky, because snow brings out the puppy in her!  Let's just say that by the end of this winter, Alyssa, our sixteen-year-old, will be an expert snow driver.  When she took the driving test to get her license in November, there was slush on the roads.  The ground has been covered with snow ever since.  In one early-morning, heart-stopping moment, she did her first 360° in the truck on the highway on the way to school.  She didn't go in the ditch and she didn't hit anyone, but she did pull over to the side momentarily until her hands stopped shaking.  Now she knows how it feels, and is certainly a better driver as a result. 

MY CUP OVERFLOWS!

Good things, indeed!  Today the sun shone brightly in the winter blue sky casting a sea of sparkles on the pristine surface of the snow that has blanketed our yard for months.  Ice-encrusted bushes hold a beauty all their own, but ice-encrusted bushes with sun shining through the ice are dazzling!  

Even our radiator-perch loving animals wanted to go out and play in the snow - over and over and over again.  Annie, our 16-year-old dog, and her rambunctious side-kick, Rusty, the adolescent cat, are amusing to watch as Annie creaks her way clumsily down the steps while Rusty prances behind her rubbing against her and weaving back and forth under her belly as she walks.  I don't know what they do once they are out there, but they always come back with faces covered with snow and a dusting of snow on their backs.  

A few days ago, when the weather was much less hospitable, I drove up my driveway and Rusty was sitting at attention in the center of three windows in the living room (to the left of the porch).  Moses was sitting on his radiator perch in front of the center of three windows in Ian's room (to the right of the porch).  Annie was standing inside the front storm door, our loyal greeter.  The cats looked like "bookends" to Annie.  I wished I had my camera, but by the time I got out of the car and in the door, all three were standing there for me to trip over as I tried to get inside.  Our homecomings never lack a welcoming committee! 

This afternoon it was hard to believe, when standing on the front porch looking out on all that sunlit snow and feeling the warmth of it, that we are in for an ice storm followed by more snow and blizzard conditions tomorrow.  Perhaps that caused me to savor today's beauty more intentionally.  

My husband, Randy, is on his way to Israel one step ahead of the storm, and Alyssa is hoping we will get enough snow so school will be canceled on Monday.  I am trying to get my new camera battery charged so I will be poised and ready to capture some postcard-worthy images.  Thanks to my good friend, Rachael, who came by today and gave me some "getting started" encouragement regarding my camera, and showed me how to actually add things to this blog.  You're one in a million, Rachael!