orange roses

soft pinks orange yellow and dark green.....

Orange roses in winter cheer up the house bound; these arrived just before the second snow storm.

The apartment is lit up with sun reflecting off the second blizzard in a week that hit DC on the 9th and 10th of February.

Named "Coffee Break" the rose and it has a dusty orange, mixed with a yellow exterior.

Somewhere it must be warm and sunny and gardens are blooming full of delights.

We however are getting our fill of snowy landscape and all the difficulties of a deep snow in a city that isn't prepared for such weather events. Even with our struggles to keep our studio from flooding completely ruining it's contents there have been moments of beauty that is awe inspiring. Huge crystals on the windows, enormous icicles dangling off the roof and gutters. Robust drifts are sweeping curves of snow which sit like modern art sculpture in our yard and neighborhood. I am loading up pictures on my flickr.com page for those interested in the snow and ice against blue skies and during the blowing blizzard a few days back. We expect more snow to come our way this week. Spring will be more welcome this year than it has been in a long time.

Under the circumstances, record breaking deep snow, DC is doing fine at getting most of the services we expect up and running. Metro took us to Bethesda for a wonderful fantasy film and dinner last night. We had to climb over a few hills of icy snow but the majority of the walk was on safe clear sidewalks. Terry Gilliam's a director formerly part of Monty Python's Flying Circus made the film we saw last night. Gilliam did the animations like the opening credits for Python and has made some of my favorite fantasy films since the Monty Python comedy series ended. In> The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus Gilliam used Heath Leger who died one third of the way through filming. A year later three of Leger's movie star friends dropped in to take over his part and complete the re-written story as a tribute to that tragic loss. In this movie is a beautiful story book world of risk and danger and loves found and lost. For me it was a great Valentines treat. We will be watching to see if it wins any Oscars.

now we have serious snow

view on Randolph St. from our north facing window, see my car buried over there to the left of Kerri's vintage truck?

the table and garden chairs this Sunday morning

Saturday before snow finished falling we went out to begin clearing some of the side walks. This is the view of the back of our apartment building and north side.

First snow day breakfast: waffles with black walnuts and real maple syrup.

Saturday afternoon measurement. 19.75" or 50cm, Keith at the corner working the digging from his end of the walk.

Snowy describes our mid-Atlantic region. It began on Friday just before noon in our neighborhood and snowed until Saturday evening, totaling 30 hours. A real Blizzard was called by the national weather service. The official accumulation in my yard is just shy of 20 inches or 50 cm. It may have been more but I was too tired after shoveling to measure it when the snow finally stopped falling at 5:30 PM.

We had fun watching the news and the snow falling and even working with our tag team of two neighbors shoveling the snow Saturday. Today we woke up and soon discovered that our back porch studio room is leaking. The snow froze up in the gutter and is pushing the melt water back inside somehow. We have no way to stop it so we just cleaned out the area and set buckets and trays in place to collect what water and ice we can. So far we have only lost some dried flowers and leaves and a few flower seeds Keith collected. It is frustrating but we will survive it I am sure.

Last night we enjoyed a tasty pot luck dinner and games about 6 blocks away with our friends a baker, architect, engineer and legal aid and their three teenage boys. It was fun to get out of the house and see everything covered in deep blankets of snow and enjoy the company of others equally joyful for some diversions. The night sky cleared and stars glistened in the frosty darkness. Our walks to and from the dinner party were magic.

It is time for me to put on my boots and go work digging snow. I hope to begin getting my car uncovered and see if we can clear out the down drain for the gutter. Maybe that will allow the water to go where it belongs tomorrow. Our record snow reminds me of my childhood playing in the snow. This year will be one to remember for the 44+ inches of the white we have had and the other storms on their way. Tuesday offers as much as 8-4 more inches to top off this white deluge.