"I have been but little in," said Ninian hastily...

I went for a walk about an hour ago, and it started snowing more heavily while I was out. It's increased again since then. But it's still well above freezing, so the snow is filling the air like a snow globe, but melting when it comes to earth. It would seem to have the potential to be quite a serious snowstorm--if it weren't so warm and if the ground weren't already wet.

But OPM decided four hours ago that the federal government would be closed to-day, so who am I to argue? :-) I'll have a day of painting little metal men and watching Annika Bengtzon: Crime Reporter (did you like the way I pronounced her name all Svensk-like? I like Swedish. Stockholm looks quite nice, and the countryside even nicer. I wonder if *mousemouseclickckicktypetypetypetypeclickclick* no, Sweden is just as tough to move to as everywhere else i want to go...)

Yay! I did today's walk/run in the park after I got home, snow and all. It's so pitifully little, but I know it's more than some can do, and it promises to build me up in time to do more. So for now, it's something.

The snow is truly beautiful. It's like having Christmas all over again, only for real now because it's quiet, cold, and full of shadowed whiteness. Snow takes any landscape with trees back to a sort of primeval forest, or at least the echoes of it. I love night snow.

The first snowfall of the winter for Washington, DC.

(With apologies to all those on my f-list who have had to deal with *real* snow for some time now. It's DC--1" to 3" here has the same effect as 24" to 36" elsewhere--snarled traffic, panic buying, municipal sports infrastructure collapsing)

Not a whole lot (at least so far), but very pretty. Been out sweeping it off the house's walks, and it's very light and powdery.

Another !yay! is that my W-2 from work came. I think I have everything I need to take a preliminary stab at my taxes.

In the meantime while I'm angsting about Life, here are much more important cat pictures (and snow).


A sample:

Welsh Guards patrol on Salisbury Plain.

OK, we've gotten most of the paperwork done for our marriage visas. Of course, nothing with the Home Office goes smoothly. The passport photo specifications on the British Consulate website are different from the specifications on the printed visa application (since the latter are smaller, we're sending the larger, on the assumption that they can cut it down if needed). The online application says that you need to schedule a visa application appointment, which seemed odd, since (a) they have stopped accepting in-person visa applications and (b) we had already paid by that point for postal application. But, when we actually made the appointment, it became clear that this was just for the biometric scans that are now required for UK visas, and that we would then *post* our applications afterwards. We get scanned on Saturday and can then send the papers of (I HATE things that require you to mail them your passport...) Then it's on to the marriage license...

It's snowing here, but it looks to be about to tail off after giving us maybe 1/4"...

Well, I shoveled the rest of the driveway and a bit of the road (so that if the plows ever come, there's less for them to throw back in my drive). I also took a number of photos of the house in the snow, partly for remembrance and partly in case they're useful for the realtor (I'm sure they'll say 'No, no one wants to be reminded it might snow!') And I took pictures of birdies! I'll put all of them up later, assuming I don't just pass out. I'm not exhausted, but pleasantly tired and it's soporifically warm and cozy inside.

So far, I'm doing pretty well today. I got a tremendously nice email from A, just thrilled by the flowers I'd arranged to have show up at her work. :-)

And I've made a huge number of birds happy too, by putting out a lot of extra seed on top of the sleet. I came into the bedroom just now and there were over a dozen doves outside, as well as a good number of juncos and a tit, feasting.

'Bedroom'? Well, yes, I'm at home today. And let me say this. I love snow. I really, really love snow. It's beautiful, it's quiet, it's cold. Also important, I can almost always drive in it.

Sleet, now. Sleet I am quickly coming to hate. because it's like sand. Bazillions of tiny, hard, loose grains that when packed down get really slick. I was out for about an hour and a half this morning, and I've got about two-thirds of my driveway cleared. As soon as my late breakfast has had a little time to digest, I'll go do the rest and see if I can get the car to the street.

I set up the trainer for my bike last night and tried it out this morning. Definitely not as fun as cycling out in the world, but still a good way to get a little blood moving. I'm keeping the cats in the bedroom while I use it, though. I hate to think what might happen if an inquisitive paw got caught in a bicycle wheel.