Snow? Yes? No?

I expect snow in January and February even as far down South as I'm now living.  I just didn't expect the forecasting to be so poor.  I'll hear on the local news "It's going to snow 3" starting at noon tomorrow!  Take cover!" and then nothing happens.  This occurred a lot in December.  The weather folks would predict snow and we'd get rain or nothing at all.

Tuesday and yesterday, snow wasn't forecast for my area and we had two and a half inches of snow which surprised everyone around.

Now, they are saying we might have a major snow event next week.  If they can't figure it out our weather day-by-day, why should I believe that?  Or should I?  Is everyone going to run to the supermarket?  Should I stock my freezer?

Aside from that, it's been about 20-30 degrees below normal for the past few weeks.

Is it spring yet?

Decision Height in Roanoke

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My husband, a good college friend, and I saw a really excellent student-penned play last night at Roanoke's Mill Mountain Theatre.  Decision Height is a drama about six women who train to be U.S. Air Force (civilian) service pilots during World War II and became very good friends along the way.  The play shows how the women grew and changed and the dangers of their new "careers".  All three of us really enjoyed ourselves and were impressed by how good and original the story was.  The screenplay was written by Meredith Levy who recently graduated from Hollins University and her script can be read here thanks to the Hollins University library.

Years ago, I used to enjoy going to Winchester's Little Theatre and Shenandoah University's brand new (back then) theatre for musicals and comedies.  I've seen a lot of Broadway shows over the years as well but until last night I hadn't seen any good theatre in Roanoke.  I'd tried but...

So, it was a fun evening and I'm glad we braved the super cold air and enjoyed a night out on the town.  Roanoke is doing major construction on the Farmer's Market area so downtown is a bit of a disaster area right now but hopefully that will change before the nice weather shows up.  I love the Farmer's Market in every season except winter.  When is March going to get here?!?

Okay, gotta go and watch Downton Abbey.

Hump Day!

Farm landscape in SW Virginia

Happy Wednesday!  We got our first real snowstorm of the winter last night which left us with about two and a half inches of snow and some ice.  It was only 12 degrees when we went outside to shovel the driveway around 7:30 AM.  I had to go to work but there was a two-hour delay which meant that I was able to get a yummy pancake breakfast at Famous Anthony's before work.  It's the little things that make the day good, ya know?  Apparently if I still lived in New York I'd be shoveling out from a lot more snow...  That part I don't miss.  I do miss the abundance of plows and salt spreaders!  Trying to get out of my neighborhood was stressful and involved riding in a 4-wheel drive pick up.

I look forward to Tuesday evenings now because ID channel's "Homicide Hunter - Lt. Joe Kenda" is on.  Love that show!  If you haven't seen it, definitely give it a try.  I also just started watching "Orange is the New Black" on Netflix.  Only one episode in but the characters are amazing and the story is unreal.  I have a Netflix DVD waiting for me ~ "Homeland" which I haven't seen yet so hopefully that show is good too.

Hope you are enjoying your week!

Greenhouses, Gardens, and Birds

Cute mini greenhouse for sale at Black Dog Salvage

Yesterday, it was in the mid-50's here in SW Virginia which got me and everyone else thinking about how spring is only a few months away.  Okay, so that is weeks and weeks away and it's now snowing but I'm daydreaming about it anyway.  Since my husband had Monday off from work for the holiday, he went ahead and rented a tiller and got our backyard garden plowed up and semi-ready for planting when spring does finally arrive.  It felt so good to come home from work (no day off for me) and see the plot of dirt sitting there looking big and impressive and full of promise.

The garden is large - over 20' x 10'.  Our plan is to plant corn, tomatoes, green beans, squash, and one cucumber plant.  I'm also going to have an herb box and all of those seeds were purchased at Fresh Market on Sunday.  Can you tell that I'm super psyched?  I got fennel, rosemary, chives, dill, basil, swiss chard, scallions, and turnips.  I'm forgetting two more that I can't recall...  I also plan on buying a strawberry plant to stick in there along with some scented geranium and lavender to deter pests.  I'm hoping all of this hard work isn't lost to deer.

Southern dirt is so totally different than the New York soil I'm used to.  Growing up, I'd dig into soft, chocolate brown soil that had a lot of sand in it and drained well.  It was easy to dig and work with and full of nutrients.  It was easy to have a garden.  This red clay which turns into a brick when dry and is impossible to work with when wet will be a major challenge for me.  I'll try to figure it out.

Isn't the picture of that mini glass greenhouse above really cute?  I went to Black Dog Salvage in mid-December to look for a bathroom wall hook with multiple, swinging arms and was successful but saw this along the way.  It was several hundred dollars so there was no way I was going to buy it but it was so cute and made me think that one day I could possibly create one of these myself if I had nothing else to do with my time.  I always wanted a glass greenhouse.  Probably because they seem romantic and full of Old World charm.

Best Work Out Song

 

This Sleigh Bells "Bitter Rivals" song makes me want to kick box or run a few miles or something.  Love it!

The Garden

 

Happy Weekend!  Thought I'd add a little video of Billy Joel performing for the hell of it.  My good friend, Miriam, saw him in concert this week and that brought back memories of when I saw Billy Joel in concert back at Madison Square Garden several years ago.  He was fantastic!  I treated my sister and brother-in-law to the concert and we had amazing seats off to the side that were close to the stage.  Besides Billy, I've seen George Michael, U2, Madonna, Duran Duran, New Kids on the Block, and The Who at MSG.

 

Of all the different concert venues I've been to over the years, Madison Square Garden is my favorite.  Not because of its looks ~ it's old and kind of nasty inside ~ but because the acoustics are wonderful, the energy can't be matched, and the location is fantastic.  At every concert I've seen there, the Garden seems to take the crowd's energy, amplify it, and push it back to make the experience even better.  Also, how convenient is it to walk down a few flights of stairs to the Long Island Railroad for the trip home?!

 

Madison Square Garden is being forced to close its doors and move to a new location by 2023 because the New York City Council wants to renovate Penn Station which is located directly underneath it.  Here's a NY Times article about the situation.  I think it's a mistake to move the Garden to some other space and it may just a ploy by some politicians to take valuable real estate and sell it off to the bidder most willing to give them a 'reward'.  Maybe I'm being overly cynical but that's just my opinion.

He Really Really Was Craving a Banana

Photo courtesy of Newington Police & NBC New York's website

So, you need to read this article from NBC New York because it is so bizarre and funny and highlights what makes New York local news so fascinating to watch.  Not that I wish stuff like this happened in SW Virginia (no!) but it's certainly entertaining.  :-)

It's Sad When You Don't Know How to Cook a Vegetable

I found this really interesting recipe in the local newspaper (Roanoke Times) on Sunday.  It was for twice-baked potatoes with fennel and zucchini and onions and cheese and it sounded really yummy.  I've never eaten fennel to my knowledge but I found one at Kroger for cheap so I was excited to get started.  Except I had no idea what the hell to do with the fennel once I got it home.  Is part of it not safe to eat?  What part of it DO you eat?  The leafy green part or the bottom part or what?  It's kind of embarrassing that at my age I have no idea what to do with a vegetable.  I had to resort to a You Tube video to teach me.  In fact, I watched three videos.  Is that not sad?  In case you are curious about fennel yourself and you don't want to be kept awake tonight wondering, one of the videos is below.

P.S. - the recipe was DELICIOUS!

 

A Fun Quiz About Language and Accents

The New York Times recently published an on-line interactive article about linguistics that you can click on here.  If you answer 25 questions, the website will process your personal dialect results in the form of hot zone maps.  The redder the zone, the more likely your dialect matches that geographical area.  It's neat!

Obviously, my test results indicated that my dialect comes from the New York/Yonkers/Newark area which is 100% correct.  My husband got deep South results which surprised us.  I think we were both expecting that he would end up in the Virginia/N.C. area on his hot zone map but so many Northerners have moved into Virginia that the local dialects have become diluted.  You can walk around Virginia and hear fewer and fewer Southern accents these days.  I love a good Southern accent...

Anyway, it's a super fun way to spend 15 minutes of your time!
 

Why This Was My Worst Christmas Ever

Hey there!  Long time no blog!  My bad...  The holidays crept up on me and I got very distracted.  I'd think about the blog and then not actually get to a computer to post.  Here I am!  Happy New Year and I hope 2014 is full of happy surprises and only good things ~

Okay, so this Christmas was absolutely awful.  It started out good.  Saw the Roanoke Children's Choir at the Jefferson Center in early December and THEY WERE AMAZING!!!!!!!!!  If I had to estimate, the choir was made up of more than 100 very talented young singers, male and female.  The variety of traditional songs they sang and the quality of the program blew me away.  It didn't hurt that I had second row seats, of course.  Hopefully, I can make this an annual Christmas tradition with my hubby.

Then, it started to unravel.  Mom got sick with the stomach virus that everyone is getting and was in and out of the hospital all Christmas week.  We're on day 11 of this thing and it's still going on.  Can you believe that?!  My big sis flew down to help out, thank God, but we're all exhausted and my mom is still not back on her feet.  It's been a depressing and exhausting couple of weeks.  Add to that a wicked head cold for me and you get the idea - awful Christmas.  I didn't even make it to church which kind of blows my mind.  Didn't get to bake any Christmas cookies.  That's highly unusual and I normally give them as gifts.  My parents and I still haven't exchanged gifts although that's low on the totem pole right now but still.  I pray 2014 will be better.

On a happy note, I got a chance to assist my hubby in feeding horses some apple slices on Christmas day.  Here's one spunky fellow who thought my cell phone was food and he started towards me with that 'please let me eat it' look.  Doesn't he look like Black Beauty?