Snow bathing

I was sitting at breakfast yesterday when some movement caught my eye outside the window. There were a bunch of magpies on the roof of the garage next door flapping around in the snow just as they would be if they were bathing in water. They were tossing snow with their heads, flapping their wings in it and then shaking themselves, wagging their tails and preening. I'd never given any thought to how birds keep clean in the winter but I guess I've just found out one of the ways. They left quite the interesting pattern in the snow too.

One of the other little joys I experienced the other day was being able to sit on my couch with a nice cup of tea and watch the snow come down. I thought of what things would be like at school and how everyone would be anxious to get home before the roads got too bad. It is such a treat to be able to stay home when the weather sucks.

Today I made a couple of batches of cookies to take to choir tomorrow night. It's odd, but I feel like I'm getting a bit of a glimpse into my mother's life now that I have time at home. I've never had time at home before except during holidays. I'm not too keen on New Years' resolutions, but I do think I want to establish something of a rhythm to my days and weeks. Up til now I've don't what I wanted and I think I could benefit from a bit more self-imposed structure.

It's fascinating how people are using the internet to establish income streams. I'm currently following te progress of 4 entrepreneurs who are using blogs, and video podcasts. I've been able to see the businesses grow. There's tremendous potential in this area and I can't even guess where it will go next. It's interesting to watch the growth.

Calgary weather has been crazy. We had a few good dumps of snow and today it went above freezing making driving on the side streets like trying to drive in sand. I got stuck going from the alley onto the street and had to put the four-way flashers on, return to the garage for a shovel and dig myself out before I could go to an appointment. Katharine got stuck after her music lesson last night and Richard just about got stuck. I don't remember so many people being stuck when we used to get a lot more snow than we've had for the past few years. I remember being stuck once in Banff and I had a small rear wheel drive car. Apparently there are no snow tires to be had this season but I'll certainly be looking for a set for the van for next year. Tomorrow it's supposed to be up to +6 which may mean a whole lot of the snow will melt and then the water will freeze over night and things could get really slippery. Ah well, as I said earlier, I don't have to drive to work every day regardless of what the roads are like.