Jed's first letter to a city council member

Brings a tear to this mama's eye.

Sorry for the odd cropping at the bottom; just wanted to leave off our exact address.

In addition to the letter, Jed included a drawing of the street with people standing beside it and the hoped-for flashing crossing signs. Across the top of the drawing, he wrote, "You can hang this up," just in case Councilmember Weeks wasn't sure what to do with the drawing. And no, I didn't put him up to this. He has commented several times that this corner needs a crosswalk and when he asked if we could ask a construction worker to make one, I suggested a more effective route might be to start with our elected city representative. 

chip off the ol' block

The Olympics captivated Eric and Macon yesterday.

happy belated valentine's day

Need a translation?

"I like hugs better than kisses. I don't like kisses because I don't like people kissing."

happy birthday grandma!

from your grandsons . . .

 

home bound

The sidewalk doesn't end here, but the snow plow does. 

I'm not sure our porch gutter is up to the task. 

The icy snow was not great for sledding, so we played in the front yard. Macon mostly tackled the snow and engaged in something he called "snow surfing." Jed used the snow to make a tee for his football.

more ice

more snow tackling

By the time we finished our snowman, Macon had retreated inside to warm up. Snow surfing, like snow cream, is cold and wet and, eventually, unpleasant for Macon. 

North Carolina snowmen are 16% snow, 37% grass, and 47% ice.

Another way to identify this snowman's North Carolina origins: nandina hair, a camellia in his lapel, and eucalyptus arms. 

our lights are still on

. . . and our snow cream is eaten. 

Macon was shocked, and displeased, to discover that snow cream is cold. I thought the name gave a hint, but I guess he needed more warning. (In addition to hot chocolate around his lips, yes, you are seeing a skinned chin and busted upper and lower lips thanks to his stunt work on his bike.)

In other weather news, it's been a crazy day around here for many people. We met our neighbor walking down our street at 6 p.m. tonight. He left work in Chapel Hill at 1. He made it to west Raleigh, but eventually, he gave up and started walking. A helpful stranger (of which we have many) picked him up and got him closer to home and we were catching him on his final approach.

Right now, at 8:45 p.m., we're still getting sleet. Here's hoping we can keep it that way all night.

Thursday morning update at 8:45 a.m.: we still have power! We have a pretty good coating of ice over our snow, so our power situation could change, but for the moment, we're warm and illuminated. 

game on

It took less than forty-five minutes for us to start to get white. Fingers crossed for no ice!

The snow cream bowl has been deployed. 

4:30 update: snow cream has been consumed, our favorite fire engine got stuck (click here for the video), and we have about 3" on our deck. 

old

Sickness and the blahs of too many days off from school have kept me away from the blog. But life has carried on as usual and since I last posted, I've gotten another year older, we've inspected an old, old house, and some old friends got together.

Last weekend, house-huggers were invited to check out the underside of the Crabtree Jones House before it was moved a few hundred yards south. In general, I don't like to see buildings moved, and since the St. Philip's move, I've become even more sensitive to it, so I hesitated to go, but I thought the boys would enjoy the outing.

Indeed, I was correct. They thought it was cool to go under the house, but the huge dirt mountain and the giant dump truck working on the other side of it were the highlights. 

It was also pretty cool to get an up-close view of the remarkable craftsmanship. 

Then today, old and new friends got together when two of my Guilford friends came over with their husbands and children. The box from our new water heater was the center of attention. 

tennis teammates with their new teams