{ october snow }

A rare October snow blanketed us this weekend. There was something especially festive about seeing the brightly-colored autumn leaves and Halloween decorations splashed against all the fresh snow around town -- quite a sight.

I love living in New England.

reason to celebrate

Pop the cork on the champagne.

I believe the end is near for the last measley patches of snow in our yard. With temperatures in the 40s and 50s forecasted for the entire week, I'd say it's meltage city, baby. 

It's like a scene from Frosty the Snowman, without the hat and pipe.

a tale of two [tulip] days

Last fall, Aidan planted a slew of tulips with his Grandma Cathey, and we've been anxiously waiting all winter for the little guys to peek through. Well yesterday was the day -- bingo! Tulip City! Or at least, the early stages of Tulip City.

So we snapped some pictures in the sunshine of our budding buddies, and emailed them off to Oregon for Grandma Cathey to oooh and aaah over with us.

Fast-forward 24-hours.

This morning, April 1st no less, we woke up to a not-so-funny April Fool's joke -- our tulips were buried under about 8 inches of snow. What a cruel twist of natural fate.

However, this afternoon, reaching out from beneath the cold blanket that covered them last night, our persistent friends, the tulips, poked their little green arms out to say, "It's all good. We're still here."

Way to go, tulips! Keep up the good fight! We can't wait to see you bloom!

gray day, bright cookies

Spring teased us for a few days with blue skies and sunshine; today however, the clouds moved back in with a vengeance, complete with snow, cold, and a none-too-subtle reminder that winter is still ultimately in charge this far north.

So I decided to give the rotten weather the proverbial middle finger and bake the brightest cookies possible.

Aunt Beverly and Grandma (my sister [the good doctor] and my mom) are coming for a quick visit on Wednesday, and I wanted to make something sweet for those late night munchies or early morning nibbles. Aidan suggested fire truck cookies, but I was able to convince him that spring flowers were the way to go.

They're colorful. They're yummy. And they absolutely scream spring.

Take that, crappy weather.

spring thaw

The snow is finally beginning to melt -- so much so that we're even able to venture back into the yard without 15 layers of clothes.

Sunshine. Blue skies. Now we're just waiting for the tulips to break through and say hello.

{ lunch with a view }

We took a cold, snowy drive up the road to Maine today and had a super lunch with a spectacular view at Jackie’s Too Seafood & Grill in Perkins Cove, Ogunquit, ME.

Mussels, wine, falling snow and a churning ocean-front table (indoors, of course) made the experience just about perfect. And when the friendly wait staff oohed and ahhed over Paige, insisting on holding her so we could eat, I almost wept with gratitude (as I ordered another Chardonnay).

I can’t wait to return during the summer months ... again and again. What a fantastic spot in an awesome little town.

magic

I’ve discovered that my favorite time during the winter months in New Hampshire is early in the morning after we’ve had a night of snow.

Everything is breathtakingly clean and white and quiet. The effect the snow creates on the branches of the trees is feathery and soft, almost like fern-like. The only word I can muster that suitably describes the transformation is magic.

God’s hand at work, and its so very lovely.

backyard x games

So much snow has fallen on us in the past month or so, we can now sled down the drifts in the yard.

What a memorable first winter in New Hampshire, we've had.

And oh yeah, there's more snow in the forecast.