I've got my love to keep me warm

First, click on this and listen. Then read.

Yep. When you live in the midwest, it's pretty likely that balmy temperatures in late February and early March won't last just yet.

There's pretty much a blizzard going on.

It rained on and off yesterday...mostly on, but it was a gentle rain. It was warm enough that the earthy scent of damp leaves and moldy moss wafted across the fields to us, inducing my Frog to remark, "Mom, it smells like spring!"

I didn't have the heart to tell her it's not even close.

This morning when we left for Mass (and we were even on time, despite the time change!), it was raining in earnest. But overnight, the temperature had dropped, so the damp air seemed to permeate the walls and chill us as we dressed.

My Darling let us off at the door, and brought the van from the parking lot (about a block away) afterward so we weren't soaked.

We took the Frog out to Denny's for her birthday treat, and afterward to Target to hit the dollar section. She and I took the Monkey in with us (Snuggle Bug was sleeping peacefully in her carseat, and the Pickle and Reepicheep were reading, so My Darling stayed behind with them). We spent about 20 minutes in the store, and by the time we emerged, the rain had turned to something between sleet and hail. (I think the technical term is drizzle, which just makes me laugh. What the heck kind of technical term is drizzle? It's what one does with icing over a cinnamon roll or a bundt cake. But I digress.)

On the journey home, My Darling wisely stayed on the interstate as little as possible. Indeed, we exited far earlier than usual and took a country road home, knowing full well that Bucky does not perform well on freshly iced roads. (There again is the image of a nice, hot, sweet cinnamon roll. Blasted Lent!)

Bucky? Did you say Bucky? I did, actually. And here he is:


Yep. We're in the Big Van Club now. In fact, if we wanted to fill every seat, we could have five more babies. :) Just sayin'.

Anywho, there we were, tooling along at 30 miles per hour, working our way toward home, and the roads grew worse and worse. Wet slop turned into icy slick stretches...and in a van with rear-wheel-drive, for Pete's sake, this does not bode well. Thanks be to God, My Darling was driving, so we all arrived home safely. Had I been the one in the driver's seat, we would still be idling on the shoulder, emergency flashers employed, huddling and slurping juice boxes for nourishment. (I don't do so well on the roads in questionable weather.)

About a half hour after we settled Monkey and Snuggle Bug down for their naps, I snapped this:


This is my little crab apple tree, right outside my north living room window. We're supposed to have around 7 inches of fresh snow when all's said and done. You know, just in time for Spring Break.

I don't think I'll be seeing crab apples anytime soon.