Flight from St. Louis was delayed for a while today, but I got in safe and sound.
Also, the extra time allowed me to finish The System of the World, completing Neal Stephenson’s Baroque Cycle. It was a heck of a read (started the first book at the end of September), with plenty of material to chew on. My brain’s percolating away, and I hope to write about the books sometime in the next few weeks.
I was worried, as I closed in on my home, that the snow would be drifted up 30 inches high in my driveway. I was in no mood to start shoveling around 8:30 pm, which is when I was going to reach my house.
Fortunately, the snow wasn’t as bad up here as I’d feared. It was only 8-10 inches high, and pretty powdery. My gold standard for messed-up weather is the blizzard of 1996, in which we got pasted with about 30-35 inches, so tonight’s level was officially No Big Deal.
I pulled into a neighbor’s house and started shoveling the mouth of my driveway, which was much higher and denser. Soon, my neighbor came out with his snowblower. I insisted that he didn’t need to, and that I’d just roll my Element up the driveway once I cleared this part out. But he wouldn’t take no for an answer. It was awfully kind, as he cleaned up the entire driveway, and made me realize that I really need to buy myself a nice snowblower.
So that’s about it. No witticisms, polemicisms, or politicisms. But I will share some pictures from the weekend:
A surprise birthday party for Shannon (the blonde on the left).
Doug & Brewster, the latter being an affectionate dog.
My beautiful niece, Liat.
My beautiful niece, Liat, who has dressed me up in several different scarves. It was even worse than it looks. Laugh while you can; you’ll get yours.