12.10.2007

The Ice Storm

I don't remember ice storms occurring with such resolute frequency during my previous tours of duty in the northeast. We had one last Monday (it struck before we arrived back from L.A., leaving every tree we passed completely encased in ice for most of the morning) and another one last night, and a nervous person (say, like my husband) might argue that the first snowy day we experienced also started out as an ice storm--even I would have to agree that it was sleeting that day, at least at the outset.

There was ice half an inch thick on our driveway yesterday morning, and as a result--we stayed home. The little girl across the street came for an afternoon playdate, which broke up the kid tedium and kept the television off most of the day, which felt like a great personal victory.

We (well, the intrepid H--I slept in, because I went to the airport at 11:30 last night to fetch the new au pair, the lovely Japanese, who will get another nom de blog as soon as my clever switch kicks over) got the kids to their respective engagements this morning and now as I type this, there's a steady rainy drip of melting icicles falling on our copper roof. The clouds are blowing through the sky pretty fast,and though there's sun above them, rain is predicted for today. One thing I like about living in weather is that the predictions are often wrong. In L.A., there was no point in paying any attention to forecasts, because they didnt' much matter anyway.

Darling Monika (a lovely and loyal reader) has asked about Christmas plans and menu....our tree is up, as are gorgeous wreaths, all procured from a local tree farm. The H and Dido actually sawed our fraser fir down themselves, and we dragged it through the snow to tie it atop our car and bring it home. It was coated in ice and so we left it in the garage for two days to drip dry before bringing it inside to, as the Babe said, "decoration it." We built a gingerbread house (from a kit--god bless my favorite, Trader Joe's) and decorationed that, too. Now all that's left is wrapping and hanging stockings by the chimney with care--and planning a four person festivity when we're used to entertaining a dozen every Christmas morning. I need to start a new tradition, and I feel a little stumped, though I'm sure something will come.

1 comment:

goodfellow said...

It sounds so cozy and lovely...I bet you have the fireplace going... even ice storms are cozy (well, as long as you are on city water or have a back-up generator to run the pump in the well, and don't actually have to drive anywhere).

The only good thing about this Christmas is that I will actually get a Nordman Fir, which is my favourite tree. They are the number 1 tree in Europe. Well, if we manage to rouse ourselves to go buy one -- 3 of the 4 of us are sick (Pierre, alias Clark Kent, alias Superman never catches these things, and carries on in the breach).

There is a shocking lack of Christmas decorations around... and no one in this part of the world does wreaths... French tv did a story today on how they are an ancient British Christmas tradition... who knew?

For years I've been trying to find the right stockings, and start a stocking tradition -- neither of our families (French Canadian and Czech) had them. Still haven't found the right stocking. Not to mention stocking presents.

psst...I bought Pierre the special edition of Band of Brothers (in the metal case)...it might even make it here for Christmas...