lights in the snow

I hardly know where to begin here...........it has been so long--as you well know! I have thought many times, after an event or thought or experience, that I would share it with you. Then because of one thing or another, the time would pass and something else would happen I would think about sharing, etc., etc., etc. I'm sure I'm not the only one to experience this phenomenon but it's a little disconcerting when it happens to YOU!!! Soooooooo, though I have at least a dozen posts that have floated through my head in all these months, I'm going to jump to right now. And if the situation or desire presents itself to tell you about something in the past, I'll do that.........otherwise, I'll try to stay a little more caught up here.

We are having our January thaw--right now as we speak it is raining!!! There is something almost immoral about rain in January!!!! We have had such a beautiful white winter this year. I've forgotten now when we had our second snow storm..........the first one was absolutely lovely, but didn't stay around nearly long enough, and then it warmed right up again we you would have thought it was August!!!! A friend of mine told me the other day that he had charted the temperature--he has the equipment and the computer program to do it--from 23 December to 23 January. In that time, we had only SIX HOURS above freezing!!!! And for 10 or 12 days straight our "high" was in the upper single digits!! I will confess that I have absolutely loved it!!!! The snow squeaked like any self-respecting snow would, you could taste the frost--we used to call it "tasting the cold" as we would stand on the steps of our little old church building in Marion, and I could make ice lanterns!!! Years ago while sitting with Suzanne--as Suzanne was having an MRI--I read about a man in Alaska who makes ice lanterns every winter. I was fascinated and came home to try it. But it has to be cold. (Well, my sister did freeze some water in a decorative pan in her freezer and put it out for a night--that works too.) And once you get them made, it has to stay cold or.......obviously........they melt. I took a few pictures last night after lighting them. It's kind of hard to see them well. But they are so pretty, and another way to be glad in the middle of January! I love peeking out the window in the middle of the night and seeing their sparkle. I have checked the weather........maybe I will be able to make another one next week! I want to try coloring one............