Pretty posies and proper precipitation

Today we got our first "proper" snowstorm where it sticks and you have to clean off your car and everything! Wow! Not too bad that our first snow wasn't until Dec 20th this year! I know other parts of the country have been utterly slammed with snow! So glad it didn't do that here!

Now, mind you, it's actually quite pretty out there - when the snow is all white and pristine and then you've got the Christmas lights and everything, it's pretty! Looks all cozy like the scenes on Christmas cards! But then the dirt trucks go by and the salt trucks and then the plows and then it just gets to be this sloppy gross brownish mess! Not so pretty, so I always try to appreciate the prettiness when it first arrives:

That's looking out to our parking area. The snow had just starting coming down in these photos.

This is the current scene:

It's totally dark out, so I hope you get the gist of it from these! It gets dark at noontime now (feels like it sometimes!), so I often forget to take pictures earlier in the day while it's still light enough to take a decent photo!!

In other world news, I bought TULIPS today at the grocery store! Nothing cheers me up more instantly than the sight of tulips! I have a small arrangement by the sink:

And one on the far side of the kitchen that leads into the piano area and living room:


I also have a vase full of them in the living room, but it was too dark in there to take a decent photo.

In other planty news, the eggplant is still thriving:


The bad news? The grape tomato plant that I so carefully and lovingly rooted and then planted? Oh, it bit the dust BIGTIME!! It went from looking decent to looking a little eh? And then it went from looking eh to "Oh, no!" and then directly to PFFFFT - dead as a doornail.

Are doornails really dead? Were they ever living? Some sayings are so strange, right? Happy as a clam is another strange one. Who deemed them happy? I think they honestly have a downright depressing existence! All stuck in the mud, squirting for their entire lives, no contact with other clams.. And talk about the claustrophobia! No room to move, no ABILITY to move, and your house is a SHELL! No protection from the elements! No insulation! No heat or air conditioning! Indeed, clams could not POSSIBLY be happy! (Can you tell I have a bit too much time to think about such things?!!)

So, that's all I got for today. I've been running around all day just like the rest of the U.S. of A. getting the last minute things for the holidays. Now, we are going to start dinner!

Happy Holidays! Hope you are happy as a cla...Wait. Happy as a...

Oh, forget it.