Let's Talk About the Weather

Whew! More "wintery weather" is heading our way. This morning when I got into the car there was a little bit of snow on the floor and there was ice on the inside of the windows. Driving was particularly interesting; luckily, I still retain the winter driving skills I picked up living in Minnesota. I slipped a few times, mostly where the sun had only been shining on part of a road, creating a layer of water on top of the icy pavement. But it wasn't anything that driving at about 15 MPH couldn't fix. Okay, and slowing down about a half-block away from stop signs. And driving in low gears. With front-wheel drive.

But other than that it was fine.

We've been stocking up on things; Mark even arranged for firewood in case we lose electricity (we have electric baseboard heat). Wednesday's supposed to be a mix of rain, snow, sleet and other things that show up in the postal carrier's oath. I suppose the cold is good for killing bugs, and the snow is good for the snow pack -- but we usually don't get the combination of cold and participation at the same time.

So far it's been fun. I made snow pryamids on either side of our driveway -- it should be fun to see how they turn out in the next twenty-four hours. In the back I made a snow-lantern (take an artistically sculpted pile of snow and stick a lit taper into it; perfect for those Winter dinners at a yard side table) and of course took obligatory pictures of the Sphinx covered in snow.

---

In writing news, tonight was the annual Wordos Winter Holiday Reading. Despite the icy roads we had a pretty good turn-out. The theme was Secret Santa (with $%@* Christmas a strong secondary theme). Somehow, I managed to do both; judging by the applause it seemed the story was well received.

The Wordos are also doing an experiment -- we're all writing versions the same story (same setting, characters and problem) and then we'll critique them. It's an interesting exercise in writing to an outline, which I always find difficult. At first I wasn't enjoying the writing, but then I got into it. Writing the story was made more difficult by the iMac crash -- which resulted in half the story being on one computer and half on another.