Snow! Snow! Snow!

My last post was on the small amount of snow that we had and how the local weatherman made a big deal out of it. Well, this time I'm making a big deal out of it. When I woke up this morning, we had twelve inches of snow. After the snow finally ended, the ruler I held measured seventeen inches. I know some of you who live in the north may not think this is much snow, but this is the most our small town has had in over twenty years. Definitely the most I've seen since I've lived here and that has been a little over ten years.

You would think that this would make a good day for staying indoors and writing, but, no. For me, it was a day of watching the snow and the scenery unfold. From dark clouds in the distance over the Blue Ridge to whiteout conditions where nothing could be seen for more than a few feet, it made for a day of contemplation and daydreaming. Come to think of it, it was a good day for planning scenes for future books--if only I could remember things that long.

It will be another few days before we dig ourselves out of the snow and clear our 800-foot driveway and see civilization again. Hopefully in that time, I can come up with scenes for my next Rachel Christie mystery.

A Recipe for Laughter: Snow and Sangria

Yesterday evening, the young local rookie weatherman was stationed in our town, known as Stone City to my readers, for the first significant snowfall of the season. His first comment was, "Oh, gosh, it's so cold out here and it's been snowing all day." He went on to measure the snow on the sidewalk and said that it was one inch. I laughed so hard. Then I rewound the video and laughed some more. I did it another time. Sorry, but maybe life in a small town doesn't have much enjoyment or maybe I just had a little too much Sangria with my pizza. To those of us who have lived in places where it has snowed at least two feet and where the wind chill factors were fifty below, it was funny. To be honest to the younger people who live in the south where snow is rare, maybe it was a big deal.

The eastern part of our state received more inches than the western part, some breaking records, one of 1/2 inch of snow. I would prefer to have twelve inches of snow versus ice of 1/2 inch. The loss of power without a generator in below freezing temperatures is not a welcome thing.

On another note, thanks to all of you who bought my books in the Rachel Christie Murder Mystery series while on promo. You pushed Murder Among Friends into the top 100 mystery books, if only for a few days. I raise my glass on this cold day to all of you. Happy reading!

Missed Snow

Missed Snow

For several days, our local weather forecasters had predicting snow. How many times have we wished we never listened to those forecasters? Most of the time they tell us it will be sunny and it turns out to rain cats and dogs. Sometimes the weather people tell us it will only rain a few inches. Not like the 7 inches we received in the last few days.

Up until last night, our area was forecast to get 4 inches of snow. Lo and behold, we got 0. That's right. Zero. That didn't bother me. I have dealt with snow since the time I learned to drive. My mother never liked to drive in the snow and we lived over a mountain. If we were on the road and it started to snow, she pulled the car over and had me to drive. However, after driving in snow all these years, I am now glad when the snow passes me by.

Last night, the counties to the east of us had 3-4 inches of snow. The counties to the west got the same amount. However, our area was in a finger that extends from the south to the north and we had no snow at all. They called off school. It wasn't a wait and see. It was let's do it now. They relied too much on the weather forecasters.

I have to say, though, the snow is beautiful, as long as it stays on the mountains like in the picture above. It makes for a wonderful day of reading or writing the seventh novel in the Rachel Christie mystery series.