Snowy Saturday

Today, I was supposed to go to Miss Mollie's in Medina with my Art Gang buddies, after which there will be bead shop exploring and all kinds of fun. However, I'm not even entirely sure I can get out of my driveway. There is the road in front of the house, enticingly clear, and my car is mired in snow. Must get the boy to do some shoveling when he wakes. Jeannene managed to get out this morning, just barely, at 6 to go in to work and her tale of woe about getting out was not encouraging. I am also a little gun-shy of the roads after very nearly wiping out on 71 Thursday. I am not eager to have another experience of 360s across the road and ending up the wrong direction & practically in the median. It might not end up as well this time. So, I will miss the fun and remain content to relax with my kitties and a good book. I am positively plowing through Traveling with Pomegranates by Sue Monk Kidd and her daughter, Ann Kidd Taylor. It's about the mother-daughter relationship, the fear of aging & the angst of not knowing what to do with your life, set among their travels to holy spots in Greece & France, with some time spent at home in Charleston, as well.

It makes me think of my own relationship with my mama, and how very blessed I am to have gotten the mom I did. I have been calling her a lot lately. So very glad they have a phone now. I want to start writing letters to her more often again. We were in the bookstore last night and, while drooling over art magazines that cost way more than I feel I ought to pay for a magazine, I saw an article about collaged correspondence. It appeals tremendously. I used to make so much more time for art when I was in my 20s. I think if I ever get my studio organized, it will help me make art more often. It seems as though we will never decide whether we're going to make Jeff move upstairs or not, so things remain in limbo for now. Having a dedicated space and all my supplies easily accessible would make it effortless...no hauling things down to the dining room & then back up. I would also like to prep a journal for use later. I always write and think I will add art later, but why not pre-decorate the pages so it's a seamless process?

I have had a busy week, with my first UPCaM board meeting, Lenten study, travel to Dayton and all my usual work, as well. It's been a lot of fun, but it does feel good to have a Saturday just to be home and spend time with books and magazines. I got the new Rachael Ray issue last night, as well as the Studios that Lou is in. It's fun to see my friends featured in magazines and Lou is just so cool. Her artwork is wonderful and it gives me a good excuse to pick up the magazine and get ideas for my own art space. I should get my nose out of the computer and printed media so I can have something to eat, but I haven't yet decided what sounds good. Yesterday was an all-round bad food day after my yum bagel at Amy's, so I am hoping things will be better today. I should just have given in to my impulse to treat myself to lunch at The Winds before really hitting the road, but I was worried about snow piling up and the roads being impossible. I very much wanted to get home to see Jeannene, so I opted for a sandwich from KFC. It was not that great and the fries tasted like rubber. Not a rubbery texture, but an actual undertaste of rubber. I threw them away. Then, I tried an appetizer from Arby's, loaded potato bites. They were floppy and overly artificial-tasting. I should have just gotten potato cakes. My caramel macchiato (for staying awake on the road) and Earl Grey tea from Starbucks were fine...the Earl Grey was the most delicious thing I ingested all day. Then, we went to dinner at The Winking Lizard, where Jeannene indulged in her weekly fish meal, very tasty fried haddock, while I tried to choke down a thoroughly dry and flavorless (not to mention overly-chewy) steak and cheese sandwich. I simply couldn't do it. Usually, the food there is good, but this just wasn't. A shame. We had a marvelous time just being together, though.

Crocker Park was a glorious beauty of a snowglobe when we stopped by there to pick up Jeff and his friend from the movies. We hung out at the bookstore while their movie (his fourth trip to see Avatar since they couldn't get into their first choice---it is encouraging that movies are selling out---and he is bored of it) finished up. Jeannene had been up since 5:30 and had to get up at 6 today, so she dozed in an armchair until the kids came while I prowled the store. Neither was wearing a coat (it seems coats are as disdained now as when I was a teenager) and she had a mini-skirt on. I was cold just looking at them! I am so tired of having to bundle up before going out and Disney looms large on the horizon, saying, "Just hang in until Easter and you will be warm!" I do hope their cold winter doesn't mean that Typhoon Lagoon is too chilly for us when we go. It's funny how very excited Amy and I are getting about Disney. I never expected to love it so much. I think a large part of that is exactly what a woman I was talking to the other night said, "When you're there, there are no worries. It's like the outside world doesn't exist." It's nice to have a little mental break from reality every now and again. Amy and I are plotting how to do 2 parks in one day and are also planning to sneak in a Savannah overnight on the way home. Yippee! Seeing my cousins will be wonderful & something about Savannah just feeds my soul.