It's a veritable winter wonderland!! A truly Christmasey, Currier and Ives scene out there. And a cosy one in here snuggling up to the fire. Having our power restored after 6 days made us appreciate the little things so much more and even though we have around 2 feet of snow now, we are all happy it is not ice!!

The birds are grateful to David for dutifully filling their feeders and the squirrels are pysched that he got them a feed block. The nuthatches, cardinals, finches, bluejays, titmice, red bellied and downy woodpeckers and others are all out there merrily munching on seeds.

Weather like this brings out the best in people. We all banded together as neighbors and helped each other out - David took his chainsaw on the road to cut up trees that were blocking people's driveways and after he finished plowing us out he took a few swipes up and down the neighbors drives too. Neighbors responded with fresh baked cookies, invites over for home cooked meals, showers, and lots more. We stocked up on goodies at the store and expect to hole up here for a few days making soup, roasts, chili and other comfort foods to get us through this latest storm.

The fact that we don't have gutters is making the icicle experience one worthy of showing off. We are getting teased by David's sister in San Diego about our "enjoyment" of the four seasons ... but today reminds us why we do love it!!

Mother Nature reminds us again that she is such a tremendous force! We had a huge ice storm last week that blanketed everything and was so heavy it knocked down trees, limbs, power poles, etc. Lots of damage all over but luckily no trees through roofs or cars or anything. We've been out of power since about 1am Thursday and have been roughing it ever since. Well, roughing it is a bit of an exaggeration since we're now holed up at the luxurious Mt Merino Manor. The cold was one thing but not being able to use the toilet or take a shower, quite another. So about two nights into it, when we found out the power wasn't coming back until Tuesday, we rang up our friends Rita and Patrick at Mt Merino (it was wedding central in 2006) and they kindly took us in. Our neighbors are faring a bit better since their homes can be heated with wood stoves and propane fireplaces. Ours works for the living room but doesn't help with the rest of the house and the ceiling is so high that it takes a long time to heat even that room with just the fireplace. The Kosnicks next door hooked up a heavy duty generator so they can use the lights, toilets, and watch TV as of about 4pm today. Now we know to fill the bathtub with water before a storm like this and perhaps get a generator ourselves when they restock (currently a 200 person waiting list!) But you have to admit that it is beautiful out there, especially with the light twinkling through the ice coated branches. Check out these photos from our house. And stay warm!

I just had to share with you what I'm seeing out my new windows. Thanksgiving was a blast hosting everyone here and my next blog will be on that but this view deserved it's very own entry.