Snow Watch

Today's activity involved tracking the major storm making it's way up the east coast. What was at one time supposed to dump up to 10 inches here in the Baltimore area amounted to about two inches of snow. The storm wasn't much but wreaked a bit of havoc just the same. The wind and snow meant my brother and his family wouldn't make it in from New York, so the possibility of having the entire family in the same room at the same time for the first time in ten years wasn't to be.

Clarence Goodbody

For me, Christmas Eve isn't quite complete without watching It's A Wonderful Life. First of all, I think Jimmy Stewart is just grand. He's grand in this movie and others as well. I'm fairly certain he was a stand-up kind of guy in real life as well. I like that about him.

And then there's Clarence, George Bailey's angel (2nd class). There's something about his determination and earnestness that I find heartwarming. He's a "I'm not giving up" kinda guy and I like that. He knows George Bailey can save himself...he just needs a bit of clarity. It's clarity that only Clarence can give..."Remember, George: no man is a failure who has friends."

In Touch

My mom used to keep tabs on me through my photo blog. Once I noted the pictures I'd taken that day were shot on my way home from the doctor's office. I got a call from Mom later that evening, she was wondering what was wrong with me. These days she gets her updates through this blog. In fact, she called me this weekend to see if I was feeling better.

"I saw in your blog that you were sick," she said.

I'm okay with that. A college friend follows my blog and often and remarks on my writing in our email conversations. It's nice to know people are reading my daily, sometimes mundane thoughts. Does it count if it's family and friends that are like family? Sure, why not. It's nice to know anyone's reading and it's always good to stay connected to Mom.

Tiny Tim Meets Willy Wonka

I made a quick stop at Target yesterday. The idea was to run in and pick up needed wrapping paper and a few other items. The decoration section was filled with other shoppers and their children. It was one child, in particular, that made me smile. I caught a quick glimpse of him using two candy canes filled with M&Ms to hobble his way down the wrapping paper aisle. I smiled thinking about the possibility of a movie mash-up-- part Charles Dickens and part Roald Dahl. If that were to ever happen I'm sure Tiny Tim Cratchit would use only canes filled with candy to make his way. Willy Wonka wouldn't have it any other way.

Couch Time

As a kid a sick day from school meant moving from my bed to the couch for the day. I suppose it allowed my mother to keep watch over me while she went about her daily business around the house. There wasn't much to do on the couch except sleep, so that's usually what I did.

I still take my sick time on the couch. I went to bed early on Thursday with a sore throat and woke up on Friday feeling sick. I was pretty sure it wasn't a serious illness-- just the annoying common cold, which is never much fun. I muddled through the day at work and left promptly at 3:00pm. My one stop on the way home was the grocery store where I loaded up with cookie-making supplies, cold remedies and the makings for chicken noodle soup. By 4:00pm I was dosed up with Zicam, Sudafed and Emergen-C under a quilt on the couch. I rallied around 5:00 to make the soup and enjoyed a cup before yet another early bedtime.

I awoke with new energy this morning. I packed up my cookie-making supplies and headed over to a friend's house happy that I didn't have to miss out on our annual afternoon of baking.

The First Snow

The first snow arrived today along with the frenzy that usually accompanies such an event. The weather was topic #1 on last night's local news and has continued to monopolize the broadcast throughout the day. At school most of the day was spent hypothesizing about the possibility of an early dismissal. The first snowflake sighting at 10:00AM was enough to turn the buzz that surrounds a group of sixth graders up ten or twelve notches. Containing the excitement was a challenge but we managed to make it through the day. The early dismissal didn't arrive as many had hoped, but the sub-freezing temperature has me wondering about the possibility of a little extra sleep tomorrow.

Approaching a Milestone

The odometer on my car reads 99,965. It used to be when a car's odometer hit the 1oo,ooo mile mark it would roll back to zero. A car's life was much shorter back then.

In the summer of '79 a friend and I took a ride out to Rocks State Park so we could watch as the odometer in her orange GMC Matador rolled back to 00000. It was a big occasion for two 17 year-olds embarking on their senior year of high school. Three months later that Matador was totaled after a moment of poor judgment found it filling up with water in the rushing floodwaters of the Little Gunpowder River.

But that's a whole other story.