still out of school

Well the snow has taken it's toll on three school days. Luckily the sun is blazing out, melting snow, or at least softening it enough that vehicles driving through it will make it go away. Because most of our kids ride busses to school, the roads must be safe enough for that before they can reopen the schools. I'm betting tomorrow will be a 2 hour delay, just enough for the school day to count, and the sun to be up for all the busses. It's great having the days to catch up on chores, but the days must be made up for somehow.

The son is finally able to take a week's worth of trash to the landfill transfer center, he's just so looking forward to that one!

Such fun.

Snow

Wow. This is the 3rd snow of the winter. I have come to the realization that I have moved to a place where it will snow every winter. (That's a good thing) Where we lived for many years before, it would snow every couple of years and it would only last a couple of hours. We had a snow day in middle of Dec, snow on Christmas day, and snow this morning/day. It's slowing down, but we expect more. Needless to say, the powers that be (the county schools superintendent) last night called school off for today. I'll bet we'll have at least a 2 hour delay tomorrow if at all. Too many rural roads, too much ice = bad news for school busses. (In case you forgot I drive a school bus). And of course the big black furry dog loves to take snow baths, and try to come in covered in snow balls.
My sister and family came up from Florida on Friday (usually the hot pits of hell but not this winter) and left a day early (yesterday) because of the impending doom, and my brother in law has to be to work Tuesday.

I made some gluten free biscuits this morning, didn't turn out too badly. It's odd - I used to get 3 headaches a week, and suffer from the family's depression. It's too early to tell, but a month gluten free, and no headaches, plenty of energy, and no slumps (minor depressions). Maybe I'll just have to stick with this, and see what happens.

Things just get better

will you just look at the calendar

Holy mackerel, has it really been that long?
Well, the husband retired, was home from July this year til last month when he took a job in Portsmouth (the Virginia one, not the England one). Jobs are that scarce here, and he finally finished all the inexpensive improvements to the homestead, and there was no money for the expensive ones. One thing with my husband, if he's bored, watch out. The least thing will irritate him, and arguments ensue. At least he's working where it's an easy 6 hour drive home, every other weekend, and it's a civilian job with the Coast Guard, so he can only work 40 hours a week, instead of way too many!
The son is a senior this year (last year of high school, for my international readers), so if he really goes into the Coast Guard himself this summer, I will have a really quiet house, and the dogs will really think that they own the world. At least then I can pack up the dogs and do the 6 hour drive and visit the husband for a week or two (he has a small townhouse to stay in).
I'm still driving a school bus, and there's no summer school here, so I will be very crafty (crochet, quilting, sewing etc) and doing what I like this summer.

It snowed on Christmas (most is gone by now), and all's right with the world,for now.

Handel's Messiah

Nothing brings home the impending arrival of Christmas as the singing of Handel's Messiah. Last night I drove to Tryon (45 minutes away) to participate in the "do-it-yourself-Messiah".

You see I love choral singing. Before we moved I belonged to 2 area choruses. Schola Cantorum (the Norfolk, VA one) had around 25 singers, did smaller works, lots of acapella, really challenging to sing with. Cantata Chorus was the large chorus, around 50 people and always did large works with small ensemble accompaniment. Cantata Chorus did a concert every year of the Messiah, getting the best soloists in the area, and at least 10 instrumentalists. In Virginia Beach, there was always a Messiah singalong with hundreds of people and a full orchestra.

Here I'm singing with a chorus in Hendersonville, but that's a decent drive, but the music is very worth it. There used to be a county chorus, as well as a county orchestra, but the chorus director decided to retire (he was in his late 80s afterall). The orchestra lives on, but not the chorus. Maybe someone will revive it.

We shall see.

new car (truck)

Alas, our old truck is costing too much in repairs to keep any longer, and a new truck has been purchased. It comes with satellite radio, I think that we won't renew the intro offer. Amazingly around here we have 2 college stations (you never know what you'll hear), 2 public broadcasting stations (1 has classical, 1 has everything else) an independent AM country station (oldies), and at night we get WSM. There's even a station with old music that my Grandmother would have tolerated. I can hear anything from bluegrass to big band to old blues to folk with very little or no commercials. And come to think of it my morning commute isn't ruined with all the traffic reports, cause... there isn't any! (suck on that you big city traffic cloggers, ha ha).

I grew up in the suburbs of DC, driving the Beltway as a teenager; lived (and commuted) in Seattle; while living in Portsmouth, VA battled I-264 traffic way more than I would like to remember - so I can enjoy peaceful drives now.

Monday musings

I keep thinking I'm getting old. My youngest is in high school. I have aches where I didn't used to. I think I forget stuff I should know. My parents are old.

I read a review of a book about the Wright brothers. Sometimes I forget that only just over 100 years ago was the first flight. And compare that with now.

But then I reap the benefits of getting old. I don't need a babysitter when I go somewhere. I was in the Coast Guard long enough to get a military pension, and I only work part time. If I'm really tired (and bedraggled looking), I can go to Hardee's and they think I'm old enough for the senior price on coffee. I can be one of those people that give driving directions by landmarks that aren't still there.

And Wednesday is a holiday - Veteran's Day.

And the husband gets to come home for a week - can't wait till June when he finally gets to retire and come home for good.

There's a bright side to everything.

November?

Holy mackerel, is it already the middle of November. Yes, there's a touch of frost in the morning, but long sleeve t-shirt by the middle of the day. The leaves are halfway done, but there are some maples left with leaves running the whole spectrum from green to yellow to brilliant red. Strange though, the dogwoods are the first leaves to change (to deep dark red), and the last leaves to fall. so cool.

And they had to try and ruin the fall with the blasted daylight savings time. Those of you that don't mess with that folly are lucky. We were stationed in Hawaii in the late 80s and they don't mess with it. We were also stationed in Seattle (they did DST), but it's so far north that the winter days are short enough that it really didn't matter. Maybe someday we'll get away from that Nixon-era folly.

Had a full moon last week. I'm always amazed just how bright it can be, I can almost read a book. Living out in the country now, I really see the difference between full and no moon nights. Love it.

And all the stores have Christmas stuff in already, some had it before Halloween. Hoping to jumpstart the economy, I guess.

Things could be a lot worse.