...a welcome phone call (or two)

...and a lazy day.

The phone rang at 5:21 this morning. I missed the call. It rang again at 5:28. Again I missed the call. My sleep-addled brain thought it was just the alarm going off. But...yippee, skippee! Both calls were to let me know that school was cancelled for the day. Freezing rain had coated the roadways overnight with a thick layer of ice. I listened to the messages left by my coworkers, wondered why two of them had called (we do have an established phone tree), called the next person on the list just to be sure she knew, then snuggled back under the covers. At 10:00 I felt rested enough to haul myself out of bed, but it took another hour to brush my teeth, wash my face, and put on something that wouldn't embarrass me if the doorbell rang. I spent what was left of the morning drinking coffee and gazing at the Christmas tree. Finally, I decided that I should do something. A stack of insurance paperwork has been sitting on my desk for a couple of months--it is now gone. Why did I procrastinate about something that took all of 15 minutes to deal with? Then I straightened my fabric stash, and thought about doing some sewing. Instead, I curled up on the couch and dozed to "It's a Wonderful Life."

I almost beat myself up for not getting much done today, but then remembered my often repeated lament that there isn't enough time anymore just to "be." Today was a gift and I am grateful.

...a trip to the city

John and I left here Saturday morning and took our time getting to Portland. It was still pretty cold out, and there were clouds to the west. We guessed we were heading into a snow storm. What we got instead was freezing rain. Yikes. We stopped at Multnomah Falls to take a look at the ice formations but didn't get too far up the walkway. When a large man in front of me starting slipping backwards I made a hasty retreat. If he went down I didn't want to be involved in any way!

At Wakeenah Falls I decided a quick picture from the comfort of a warm vehicle would suffice.

We made it to Portland without any mishaps, although many other folks were not so fortunate. I drove v-e-r-y carefully and got us to our hotel just fine. (My little truck didn't know how to act with valet parking--she's more of a small town girl!) It was a delightful evening with a friend--walking to an early dinner, enjoying the lights and decorations, and then...The Nutcracker. What fun! I'd never been to a ballet before and honestly had never seen this story in its entirety on TV. (How is that possible??) I cheated and took some quick pictures (minus the flash) before the curtain went up.

Since this was my first ballet, it all seemed magnificent to me--the music, the sets, the costumes, the athleticism--but I must admit, I enjoyed watching the children the most. It was over too soon.