First Snow!

We woke up to this season's first snow and it was extraordinarily beautiful. These are crabapples on a row of small trees in our backyard. This variety is called Sir Lancelot. The tiny yellow fruit remind me of jewels. It is particularly nice at this time of year to be left with bits of colour after the leaves have fallen from the trees and shrubs.

Meeko was very excited to see the snow and did two crazy fast loops of the backyard in celebration. I was able to convince Chloé to accompany us to the forest for a morning walk before she headed downtown for her classes.

I'm so glad we went as it was absolutely enchanting. All of the trunks and branches of the trees were covered with snow. These photos were taken in colour (you can see a bit of colour in the leaves at the top) but they look like they were taken in black and white. The marshy areas border parts of the pathway through the forest.

As Chloé and I drank the beauty of the morning in with our eyes, Meeko dipped his nose in it. To each, their own form of celebration!

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First Snow

We are in the midst of a very tiny first snowfall. Just a dusting. Hardly enough if I'm reading the expression on Meeko's face correctly.

But he still celebrated with his signature wild dash from end of the yard to the other, looping perilously close to stone walls, trees and other hard objects. We call it 'the weasel run'. It always ends with a spectacular leap up the stairs, taking several steps in one stride. Funny boy, with a sense of style.

I'm not doing too well keeping up here lately.  I'm not always replying quickly as quickly as I would like and I'm not getting to other blogs. I'm really sorry about that. There are lots of demands on my time recently.  Chloé had two days of school holidays last week. And then, Meeko was at the vet for an overnight visit for allergy tests. What doesn't show in the photo above is a huge rectangular patch of fur missing on his left side where they shaved him for the test. Oh, it's hard to look at, even though I know it will grow back in. They did find that he has several outdoor allergies which explains the problems he's been having with his eyes, sneezing and paws.

I had to take Emma to the doctor this morning. She is very rarely sick but has a sinus infection and a very bad cough that has had her professors sending her out of class during the past week.

All of our computers seem to be ailing as well lately. I had major problems with the installation of new virus protection software I purchased. I worked on it for two hours on my own trying to solve the problem. Then the expert from the company took over a half hour to fix it. That made me feel better--that he didn't correct it in two minutes. I have to say it was pretty cool that he was able to help me through chat and long-distance control of my computer. But what a time-waster the whole problem was. That happened on an afternoon when I had full intentions of painting. Then Emma's laptop started acting up a few days later and, once again, I was the V.P. of technical services called to look after the job. Don't you hate when your time gets eaten up by stuff like that?

And to top it off, last week I managed to kill my 4-year old laptop with a spilled glass of wine. I guess you could say I killed it with kindness. So it means that I have less access to a computer right now. Once the girls are home, the desktop is no longer mine. I have to make sure I do all of my Etsy, blog and Photoshop work during the day. I haven't been posting as much on Facebook or Twitter either. Maybe that's not a bad thing. One thing for sure, it's not the best timing for a big purchase before Christmas. It may be that the new computer becomes my Christmas gift. I have a wild dream of an iMac. We'll see, she said to herself, with irrational Christmas stars twinkling in her eyes.

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Just a little reminder that it's not too late to get free shipping on purchases in my Etsy shop. I am running the special until the end of the day Friday. Use the coupon code HOLIDAY at checkout.