Glad Tidings?

Dear neighbor who drives the Mazda with Ohio plates,

You are very lucky that I had an ounce of holiday cheer left this afternoon when I finally muscled through crowds and largely unpaved roads to find your car parked in one of the spots I laboriously cleared Sunday afternoon. Thanks to your indifference and greed, I spent the next hour perilously parked and shoveling a third parking spot like a madwoman, chipping at ice until Ben got home to take over for me. Two (freaking) feet of snow fell over the weekend; I had already shoveled out one driveway, one cul-de-sac, and two solid parking spaces. I think that's plenty, and assume you have a damn good reason for ungraciously stealing my spot. May you be gifted with the task of shoveling out the rest of Avemore this holiday week.


Signed,

Your buff, sore, and miffed neighbor

Snowpocalypse

A weekend in photos

My muscles ache just remembering digging ourselves into a parking spot this afternoon.

The days start getting longer soon. Let's hope that as the amount of light per day increases, the amount of shoveling does not! ;)

Frightful!

Sometimes, a picture can say it better than anything else.

Good Grief

A Charlottesville resident was named by Keith Olbermanm as one of this year's worst people in the world. Why am I not surprised?

Improving Your 6 Degrees

For posterity, I shall hereby record what was possibly the most surprising and alarming work-related quote of 2009:

During a recent visit to the Pony Barn (home of the curatorial department for which I toil), one of my colleagues showed a few of us around the new configuration of the remodeled office. "Jessie and Grant will move down here behind this wall. Cheryl's desk will move over to the north wall, and this desk will be reserved for the visiting researchers, like Meg and Lynne Cheney."

That's right. Lynne Cheney and I share a desk.

Let us consider the Post-It notes I should leave for her...

Creatures Among Us

We're been too busy with holiday parties, end-of-the-semester parties, grants-refunded parties, Believe Day (thanks, BD!), and the general demands of spreading Christmas cheer to take decent photos these days.

However, as we went out for a stroll today between the downpours, we met up with some of our furry creature friends. Yesterday, a trio of bushy-tailed caribou-types moved in formation along the road as we drove, then darted out to cross the street. Today, these guys, who may have been the same herd, just munched cheerfully right near our cars.

Deer, what is so darn tempting about us in motion? Keep your distance, por favor!

Not as fascinating as the little fox who lives along that ridge, they were nonetheless attractive to watch. Just stay up near the trees, you wackos!

A Pantops Winter Wonderland

Saturday was our first snowstorm of the season and coincided perfectly with our first holiday party of the season. Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Sunday, after we dug out for a third time, we found that Keswick had NO snow stick on the ground. Keswick is ... three miles down the road? Actually, we can be even more specific: Glenmore, a neighborhood within Keswick, got no snow. Also, this week, Mike Comer, former Glenmore neighborhood embezzler exec was indicted by a grand jury. Coincidence?

Complaining about the chill to my grandma on the phone the other night, I said, "Well, I guess winter has officially begun."

And she corrected me, "Well, I don't think it's official until the 21st..."

Wah, wah. Cold and schooled by my grandma. ;-)

Postcards from the Outer Banks

Last weekend of November 2009

Kitty Hawk

Duck, NC

We already have a long list of all the places we want to see next time we're there.

Sea 'shroom?

Sea cacti?

Corolla, NC

We now understand the hype.

OBX: the way life should be.