More Snow A Comin'

The National Weather Service thinks Northern Virginia is about to get another ten inches of snow.

I would make a joke about going stir-crazy, but it's too real to be funny.  How can the sky hold this much snow?  It's just not possible.

And don't tell me the clouds only hold water particles which fall and turn to snow in cold temperatures, or that the clouds get those particles from evaporation.

I'm too crazed for sensible talk.

I was grateful for the physical activity of shoveling off my deck.  My Uncle Bill called back to say he'd started doing calculations of snow weight, and was changing his mind over the danger of letting it sit.

Am I rambling?

Staying inside, or spending all outside time shoveling, is starting to get to me.


So I'm just going to sit here the contemplate this chipmunk.

One day we'll meet again, this chipmunk and I.  That day will be warm and sunny and glorious.

Dreaming of sunscreen,
Megan

Snow Reading: Dead Man's Folly

"'But that's impossible, M. Poirot.  We know it's impossible.'
'Oh, no' said Poirot, 'it is not impossible at all! Listen, and I will tell you.'"

A great way to fight off those stuck-indoor-in-a-blizzard blues is by reading Dead Man's Folly by Agatha Christie.  Hercule Poirot is invited out to a country estate where a murder mystery party is taking place.  Once the young girl playing the victim is really murdered, Poirot steps up to solve the crime.  Is is the mysterious cousin, just arrived from France?  The adoring husband?  The jealous secretary?  The bickering married couple?  I was hooked on the story, and though I'd caught most of the important clues, was completely surprised by the solution.

If you haven't read Christie's Poirot yet, this book is a great place to start.

What mystery authors do you love?
Megan

Snow Reading: Traveling Death and Resurrection Show

"Fallen or faithful, what are you going to do?  You're given a mythology in this life, the way you're given a body, a family, a country.  You can reject it if you like -- starve it, laugh in its face, run away into exile -- but it's still your mythology.  There's always the chance for redemption."


Stuck inside in a blizzard or relaxing next to your cabana, The Traveling Death and Resurrection Show by Ariel Gore will keep you entertained.  It's the story of a girl named Frankka who travels the country in an acting troupe - with a unique show.


Their act showcases each members talent.  Tony is a musician, Magdalena is an acrobat, Lupe a fortune teller, Madre Pia can levitate, Barbaro is a fire-eater, and Frankka?  She can get the stigmata.
For my non-Catholic readers, the stigmata is when someone relates so strongly to Christ's suffering that he (or more commonly she) manifests his wounds.


Frankka had been raised by her grandmother, a devout Catholic.  After her parents death, following her prayers to revive her grandmother's faith, Frankka discovers she can get the stigmata at will.  She also can see angels and saints, who keep her company throughout her childhood.  Throughout the novel, short chapters describe these saints life stories, including Mary Magdalen and Therese of Lisieux.

I found the concept of this novel intriguing, and the book did not disappoint.  Frankka's faith takes interesting turns, and evolves throughout her differing circumstances.

I enjoyed reading The Traveling Death and Resurrection Show so much, I would recommend it even if I wasn't trapped in a blizzard.

Steel-tipped shovels rock my socks,

Megan

Blizzard

Snow, Snow, everywhere, and all of it needing shoveled.

Returning to Northern Virginia, we've been hit with quite the snowstorm.

Snow always makes me feel grateful.


I'm grateful for somewhere warm to stay during the storm, and that I made the drive home safely.



I'm grateful I'm not one of the 100,000 households without power.



I'm grateful that I have a full refrigerator and pantry.



I'm grateful none of the trees that fell hit my home.



I'm grateful for DVD players and Agatha Christie and Wii.



Most of all, I'm grateful I have friends helping me shovel.

Ezra & Lola

Mom, why doesn't the cat like me? I posed this question to my mom countless times as a child.  I yearned for feline approval that was never bestowed.

Thus I fell in love with dogs.  Their floppy ears, their bad breath, their unconditional love - dogs and I just understood each other.

It makes a strange kind of sense, that while Sarah's dog, Bodhi, found my very appearance terrifying, Ezra, her cat, adored me.

He'd worm his way onto my lap any time I sat down, not even caring I constantly referred to him as female.

Charlotte, North Carolina obviously exists in some pet warp, where all previous experiences are turned on their head.

I was starting to get worried - maybe I'd intrinsically changed.  Maybe the rest of my life I will be shunned by all dog kind.


Thankfully, Lola still disapproved of me, so I'm probably okay.

Pet Time Warp would be an awesome tv pilot,
Megan

Bodhi

Hi.


My name is Bodhi.


Sarah and her man are my masters.



On Monday, something scary happened.


There I was, innocently sitting on my couch, snuggled up to my masters, thinking it would be a normal weeknight.



Then I heard a noise.


A familiar noise, one I'd heard thousands of times before.


Yet something told me this noise was different.


A car door slamming usually signified a master returning, or a neighbor coming home from work, or even a delivery man bringing yummy smelling dinner.  


This car door had an ominous tone to it, and in my head I could suddenly hear the howling wind, see the flickering candles, sense the impending doom.


A visitor had arrived.



It was a woman smelling of clementines and car trips.  Claiming she's called "Megan" and pretending to be kind, my masters fell for her con, but I was more hesitant.


I mean, she kept trying to pet me.  And we'd just met.  Talk about forward.


I did what any sensible dog would do - I ran away, shivering in fear.  


She managed to keep the charade up the entire visit, but I knew better than to relent.  


Clearly she was just waiting for my surrender to unleash her dastardly plans.  It was only my strength of character and resolve that saved my masters - nay, saved all of Charlotte, North Carolina.  



Nothing gets by me,
Bodhi