“that almost looks like snow,” i remarked as i got up from my seat at loco’s deli sunday afternoon. famous last words. if you live anywhere near athens, you know the end of this story.

the last time i saw snow like this in georgia, i was knee-high to a grasshopper. it was the great Blizzard of ’93, and that killer laid down a blanket of snow so thick, three or four grasshoppers standing on top of each other probably couldn’t have penetrated its surface. so you can imagine how deep it seemed to me.

well, after 16 years with no more than half an inch of the white stuff, i hardly knew what to do with myself. i was chomping at the bit to get out there! i hurriedly reviewed my snow safety list: beware of icy patches. check! don’t eat the yellow snow. check! avoid the temptation to lick frosty metal objects. double check! (i’ll never make that mistake again.) remember to wear your warm mittens…

…too late. i was out the door, camera in bare naked hand. soon, my hands were wet and frostbitten, my fingers gnarled in pain. but worse, they were purple! (how girly is that!?)

dillon was kind enough to lend me his gloves. that calmed the hellish stinging sensation everywhere but in my left middle finger, which protruded through the glove’s missing fingertip. i started to lift the torn finger toward dillon to make him aware of the defect but, not wanting to seem ungrateful, elected to shove my hands into my pockets and take a break from picture-taking.

oh, how silly of me. i forgot to introduce dillon and andrea. eileen and i met this sweet, fun-loving couple from TEXAS at church shortly after they got married. a couple dinners and croquet games later, they already seem like old friends. they invited us to lunch at loco’s that fateful sunday, and we ended up spending a fun-filled afternoon together. sadly, dillon’s graduate studies are taking them away from us soon. we’ll miss you two. (by the way, guys. my hands have finally thawed out enough for that rock climbing trip we discussed. y’all ready?)

our little marsh — my favorite feature of our neighborhood — looked brilliant. i was very excited to get a snow-covered photo of it to add to a four-seasons marsh collage i’m working on. none of our beavers showed up for the picture, though i waited as long as i could to see one. i like to think they were in their little stick houses sipping hot cocoa.

below, my bare hands just before they became the color of andrea’s coat.

march snow storm aside, the last month has been rather warm in some other ways. besides spending time with andrea and dillon, eileen and i got to take one of the best road trips we’ve ever had with our friends robert and mary jane. (you may remember their cute-as-a-button baby boy, logan, from a past blog entry.)

we all took an extended weekend together to go snowboarding in virginia, where my eldest sister and her husband put us up at their home in lynchburg. (thanks, sis’. we can’t wait to see you in a couple weeks! we’re looking forward to spending a couple days with the girls!)

we had a blast catchin’ up, playing with our nieces and new baby nephew, and bruising our bodies on the slopes. the snow was powdery, the crowds were small, and robert helped us improve our s-curve (which didn’t help me much as my body bounced limply down the black diamond he convinced me to try, but i appreciate the thought nonetheless).

eileen’s long-time chum malia even drove out to eat with us at the ski resort. thanks, malia! it was great seeing you again.

and here is mary jane — apparently looking down at eileen who is looking up from the ground (a common occurrence for both of us), but who is still putting her point-and-shoot to good work. (I’m proud of you, baby!)

i wish i had time to go into the extremely unusual photo gig we shot the night of the snow storm, but i’ll save that for the next blog. right now, i’m heading outside. the snow hasn’t been melted a week, and it’s a beautiful 70 degrees. go figure.