january 7, no school

We are having an oldfashioned lake effect snow storm. I say old fashioned because for some reason people around here seem to have forgotten what winter is really like. The temps are in the single digits and low teens, the windchills substantially lower and the open waters of Lake Erie are sending wide bands of snow up the escarpement and over Chautauqua and Cattaraugus Counties. All but a few schools in the county had closed by 6, when I stopped listening. jessie called to say she wouldn't be coming to get on the bus today and that she was going to play outside. KIDS! I'll have to go out to get milk in a bit and I really really don't want to. I feel bad for Stan, out doing chores and just shudder when I remember what I used to do on mornings like this. It's really too cold up here for comfort. I'm tempted to go downstairs and pull the big leather chair around in front of the register and throw a blanket over it and me and pretend I'm on vacation someplace warm.

What is it about January that has us all organizing? I have all this lovely new work furniture to move into, but even when I don't have a really good excuse like that, I tend to straighten up the closets. It certainly isn't because its easy to get rid of stuff now - or even convenient with the weather. Maybe its the fact that we (us northerners, anyway) have to stay indoors more and there are only so many things you can do.

Before the weather moved in, I went out and took some cuttings of lavender - Hidcote and Munstead - to start for Melissa. We'll see how that works. I have spent a couple of mornings repotting the verbena, lavender and petunis cuttings that I took in September. some of them have grown so much that I took cutting off of them to start. I'm going to end up with no room for seed starting! I also noticed that the agapanthus ( nile lily) that Louisa gave me a year ago has a bud. It will be exciting to see if it actually blooms.