You thought I was gone?

I have to admit. I knew it had been a long time since I've posted to this poor, lonely Blog site but Sept. 6th! Wow!

I have various reasons of course.  Most valid (moving again was time consuming).  Some not (should an infatuation with Love it or List it replace dedication to ones Blog?). The most likely reason is that I chose to focus on what mattered most (family and health) in the past 6 months of moving and getting to know another place and community and maintain my sanity.  Very often this did not mean sitting down at the computer other than to pay bills and respond to emails - I've been woefully inadequate at responses as well.

After multiple moves, I can't say I'm the best at it.  Each move has been different and provides its own challenges.  I can say that I've fought my personality a bit in the last couple years and this has been reflective in my blog absence as well.  I'm getting through the book "Quiet- the Power of Introverts" by Susan Cain.  I found I wasn't sure what to write anymore - I needed purpose.  Living in Switzerland gave me purpose - I was sharing my different life with family and friends at home in the US.  Moving back - I lost focus and as I expressed to a friend recently the way people communicate changed significantly while we were in Switzerland and I don't necessarily feel like I fit into the fast-paced society we've become.  No one wants to wait for me to process information or develop my thoughts or listen to a full sentence - I'm not complaining, it's just an observation.  In talking, I realized the Blog had been a release for me in communication.  One I haven't had for a while.  It is not about getting more readers or showing anything off - simply sharing life and some fun pictures and knowing someone is slowing down enough to read something I wrote.  Something I had to say.

Kendra's white board with a Stephen Hawking quote says a lot:

 
 

So - I'm going to try again and we'll see what happens! What's been happening lately in our world is weather.  I have a lot of snow pictures today for you.  Now I love snow and have enjoyed some of our snowy weather this year but not this week.  Which is why I have to turn yuck! into something beautiful - right?

This was Monday - our 4th and final built-in "snow day" for school.  We received between 14 - 16 inches on top of what was left from the prior week.  It was a heavy snow but manageable.  Poor neighbors nanny was on the street when the plow came by - they dug her out before it made another pass later in the day.  Oh, and two ladies were cross country skiing down the street as well - wish I had them myself.


These next two pics of our house were taken at different times and I'll try to describe what happened.  The first pic is fairly early on Monday, we don't have much snow yet and you can see the snow on the roof and bushes under our windows, Yes?

Now you don't. See snow on our roof or many bushes under our windows.  Wednesday mornings storm brought snow and then sleet which caused everything to crust over with ice.  No one moved on the street until after 11am.  Around that same time, the ice and snow from the roof decided to come sliding down.  All of it.  Loud and hard and sadly, from the amount of breakage I can see, we just experienced natural selection in landscaping.  The large bushes next to our door are still covered in ice - some leaves and branches have 2inch layers of ice on them - it's wild. 

Everything was covered in ice but sometimes it's really, really beautiful:

Beautiful tree on the grounds of the school down the street:

Close-up of how ice covered everything.  All of our trees were covered like this and then the wind was blowing and it was crackling - very spooky.  If the wind blew hard enough it would send little shards of ice falling down - trees were so sparkly in the sunshine the next day.  In spite of the sun, that ice did not melt until today - Saturday.

Here's Kendra doing her best "Lucy" impersonation as it looked like we were living in Narnia:

Rachel on her way to a Semi-Formal dance last week - her first dance here in NJ. 

Here is the big dog having a run in the school yard.  Thank goodness he likes the snow!  What has been difficult is the way the snow iced over with Wednesdays storm.  He alternately slides on the iced over snow or suddenly breaks through it.  We worry about him hurting/breaking a leg and I'm starting to take him on more walks because he's so uncomfortable on the backyard snow, he won't do his doggy duties.  So we are more than ready for this icy mess to go away.

And Blogger just deleted the pic of Bart with his shovel.  I'm supposed to be going upstairs to say good night to the girls.  But I'm sooooo close to posting this that I will.  I'll post a pic of Bart with his favorite snow shovel (sarcasm implied) later.

I hope everyone reading this is well and if you are reading this, Thank You!