A Day of Gracious Living
Labels:
gracious living,
snow,
snow days
When Mark and I went to Kalamazoo College there was always one day in the spring that was much anticipated. It usually came toward the end of the quarter, week 7 or 8, when everyone just needed a break from the work and the looming finals week.
It was called the Day of Gracious Living.
It started with the Chapel bells ringing at 8 am. It meant that there was no classes for the day. Organizers tried to have it on a beautiful spring day. It was a day to just be thankful for the day and enjoy life. The Quad was littered with blankets, students basking in the sun or playing a round (or many rounds) of frisbee golf. Some of us headed to South Haven and the beach (even if it was too cold to swim) or to the Indiana Dunes.
Today, we had a day of Gracious Living.
Granted, it's not very balmy out, but for the first time in a long time we got a snow day! By "we" I mean DCPS. This wasn't the case until 8:30 last night....the federal government had closed, along with 350+ other locations in the Metro Area (including all other area school districts), but DCPS was only operating on a 2 hour delay.
We found this quite incredible since much of the city hasn't been unearthed yet. The public buses weren't running as of last night (and I don't think they're running yet today). The subway is still not running above ground. The public buses and the subway are two of the main ways a lot of students get to school.
So we were incredibly relieved when we saw that school was canceled today. And because I did all my prep work this weekend in anticipation of going to school today I really feel like I've had a day of gracious living.
Mark and I slept in and around 10:30 chose to go for a walk to see how the rest of the neighborhood was looking.
We armed Soba with his paw protection that Jon gave us at Christmas. It works so well!
Then we headed out to see what was out there!
From the end of our driveway it looked like a mixed bag. To the left we had a shoveled path to Evarts.
At the end of the driveway was patch of thick ice from where yesterday's melted and shoveled snow had pooled and refroze over night.
And to the right, toward Douglas, was nothing but snow with some footprints from other who had braved the snow before us.
We chose to head toward Douglas.
This is North Capitol---if you look in the center of the picture, near the horizon you can see the US Capitol. It's a beautiful and clear day here.
About 3 blocks into our walk Soba refused to move and took turns lifting his paws and looking at us pathetically. Mark picked him and cleaned out the snow that had collected between his toes. He carried him for the rest o the block and then put him down...all better!
We saw a lot of cool things on our walk. Like the snow cliff that had formed over a yard wall.
We saw a stranded car or two...
Cars buried by snow...
The sun shone bright through the trees.
We saw very cool snowscapes--like this picture below where the snow has started to melt and collapse on itself.
Some sidewalks are not shoveled at all.
Some streets are more slush and snow than clear.
We took to the street in some spots until the sidewalk cleared.
The bus stops aren't even clear...which is ok since the buses aren't running yet.
Cool icicles from overhangs.
Check out the Washington Post box in the snow!
We stopped for a few staples at the corner market.
Armed with some bread, potato chips and Diet Coke we continued our trek.
Some sidewalks are completely cleared!
Our sidewalk is clear, but the corner is piled high with plowed snow.
I couldn't resist taking the picture of the cemetery gate behind our house.
More cool pictures of the snow....
That's snow wrapped around a cord against our house...
The ice at the end of the driveway...
Pristine snow in our neighbor's backyard...
At the intersection of our alley and Evarts this is what our view was:
(to the west)
(to the south)
(to the north)
(to the east)
More icicles...
An icicle hanging from wires...
A sheet of ice from our back awning.
A fantastic Day of Gracious Living.
It was called the Day of Gracious Living.
It started with the Chapel bells ringing at 8 am. It meant that there was no classes for the day. Organizers tried to have it on a beautiful spring day. It was a day to just be thankful for the day and enjoy life. The Quad was littered with blankets, students basking in the sun or playing a round (or many rounds) of frisbee golf. Some of us headed to South Haven and the beach (even if it was too cold to swim) or to the Indiana Dunes.
Today, we had a day of Gracious Living.
Granted, it's not very balmy out, but for the first time in a long time we got a snow day! By "we" I mean DCPS. This wasn't the case until 8:30 last night....the federal government had closed, along with 350+ other locations in the Metro Area (including all other area school districts), but DCPS was only operating on a 2 hour delay.
We found this quite incredible since much of the city hasn't been unearthed yet. The public buses weren't running as of last night (and I don't think they're running yet today). The subway is still not running above ground. The public buses and the subway are two of the main ways a lot of students get to school.
So we were incredibly relieved when we saw that school was canceled today. And because I did all my prep work this weekend in anticipation of going to school today I really feel like I've had a day of gracious living.
Mark and I slept in and around 10:30 chose to go for a walk to see how the rest of the neighborhood was looking.
We armed Soba with his paw protection that Jon gave us at Christmas. It works so well!
Then we headed out to see what was out there!
From the end of our driveway it looked like a mixed bag. To the left we had a shoveled path to Evarts.
At the end of the driveway was patch of thick ice from where yesterday's melted and shoveled snow had pooled and refroze over night.
And to the right, toward Douglas, was nothing but snow with some footprints from other who had braved the snow before us.
We chose to head toward Douglas.
This is North Capitol---if you look in the center of the picture, near the horizon you can see the US Capitol. It's a beautiful and clear day here.
About 3 blocks into our walk Soba refused to move and took turns lifting his paws and looking at us pathetically. Mark picked him and cleaned out the snow that had collected between his toes. He carried him for the rest o the block and then put him down...all better!
We saw a lot of cool things on our walk. Like the snow cliff that had formed over a yard wall.
We saw a stranded car or two...
Cars buried by snow...
The sun shone bright through the trees.
We saw very cool snowscapes--like this picture below where the snow has started to melt and collapse on itself.
Some sidewalks are not shoveled at all.
Some streets are more slush and snow than clear.
We took to the street in some spots until the sidewalk cleared.
The bus stops aren't even clear...which is ok since the buses aren't running yet.
Cool icicles from overhangs.
Check out the Washington Post box in the snow!
We stopped for a few staples at the corner market.
Armed with some bread, potato chips and Diet Coke we continued our trek.
Some sidewalks are completely cleared!
Our sidewalk is clear, but the corner is piled high with plowed snow.
I couldn't resist taking the picture of the cemetery gate behind our house.
More cool pictures of the snow....
That's snow wrapped around a cord against our house...
The ice at the end of the driveway...
Pristine snow in our neighbor's backyard...
At the intersection of our alley and Evarts this is what our view was:
(to the west)
(to the south)
(to the north)
(to the east)
More icicles...
An icicle hanging from wires...
A sheet of ice from our back awning.
A fantastic Day of Gracious Living.
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