Snow Day Soup

Before we went to bed last night school was cancelled for Floyd County. We received 3" of snow (it mostly covered the ground) followed by a glazing of fine hail. I called the Vet this a.m. to reschedule another day to take out Jack's stitches. I knew (from previous harrowing experiences) that the minivan would not make it across the hilly 1.5 mile dirt road we lived off of before hitting the cleared main paved road. Hubby had taken the 4-wheel drive Jeep into town to get to his store.

I took this picture of lamb's ear in the front garden bed, still decidedly green, a little bit of snow won't phase it. Recall that it was just three weeks ago on January 15th that we had a record high, then there were several hollyhocks a foot tall. Poor, confused flowers. Truth is the weather (climate?) was confused. No matter how good a 65 degree day feels in mid-January, it is just plain wrong for our neck of the woods.

The photo to the right is the top of a small table on the deck, the design reminded me of a Zen or Chinese symbol.

Here's the recipe for tonight's meal: Snow Day Soup.
1 28 oz. can of diced tomatoes
2 15.5 oz. cans of black beans, well drained
2 carrots, diced
1 large onion, diced
1 10 oz. package of frozen spinach (could also use collards or kale w/rib removed)
Garlic, minced - to taste
3 c. water

I would have also added frozen or canned corn and a sweet potato (diced) but happened to be out of both. I thought about cooking one large chicken breast, dicing it, and adding in place of the beans. We're making cornbread to serve with the soup tonight. What are you having for dinner?

Snow, rather, Ice Day

On Thursday the 11th we had an inch of snow. That's right, one whole inch. Whoopee. It wasn't enough to have a bonafide Snow Day the following day and Spencer had to go to school. We both felt cheated. I grew up in Minnesota and I have fond memories of snow days, so I was pulling for the Snow Day as much as he was. I let Emerson quickly go sledding that Friday morning--before it melted--since it was the first real snow of the season.

Last night southwestern Virginia got our share of the storm that had dumped ice on Texas. It finally made its way here. Before it arrived, we went through the usual prep that we do for any winter storm. I took a hot bath and left the water in the tub (in case we lost power and needed water to flush). We brought in more wood for the woodstove to have dry wood. We filled up a couple of stockpots with water, again in case we lost power (the well and spring both run on electricity). We double checked flashlights, and last but not least, we parked the cars at the top of the drive (when covered with ice the driveway is not usable). We experienced hail, sleet, rain and ice, but no snow! It precipitated all day long but didn't leave us with much--just a mess. What do we have to do to get some snow, for pete's sake? The administration finally cancelled school late last night. This morning, Emerson went zipping at top speed down the luge run. Don't have a luge run at your house? Our dirt and gravel driveway is long and fairly steep, when covered with ice it becomes what we half-affectionately and half-frustratingly refer to as the luge run. Just part of life living in the country...in the Appalachians of southwest Virginia.

How did we use our snow day? Well, we put away Christmas. We Perry's leave our tree up much longer than most people. I always tell my husband that I want to get my money's worth, which is true (and we do), but the real reason is that I love to look at the tree decorated and lit with white lights, especially at night. We took down the tree today and the sunroom looks empty as it always does for the first few days afterwards, but since it's nearly February it was time. This picture is our former Christmas tree relocated to an area we're filling in on the edge of the woods.