dogloos, watercress soup, and a whole city shutting down

2.5 years ago, Khan lived in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida where a January afternoon often consisted of a merry romp through salty waves and fetching seashells across the sand.

We then moved to Charlotte, where he has often wondered what happened to that place called the beach and why we don't take him there in the afternoon. No matter, he concludes. The Charlotte parks are fabulous havens for a dog.

So that's all fine, but now THIS, the Khan thought early Saturday morning.

What's this curious thing outside our front door?

So the brave Khan checked it out. And determined it was good.


We got barely enough snow to cover the ground by the time it was finished.

But that was enough reason for Charlotte to shut down.


There was hardly a soul out on the road or walking the streets downtown. The entire choir skipped church on Sunday and the lack of their leading voices caused the substitute pianist to cut the recessional hymn down to two verses instead of four to put the the thirty folks in the congregation out of their humiliating misery. We who came to church to hear a sermon and say a prayer just couldn't get the tune by ourselves. It left me very thankful for the choir.
And today, school is canceled indefinitely.


In the meantime, the colors that usually blend to make a harmonious palette of earthy tones and occasional hints of brighter, merrier colors, are popping out like fireworks against the snow.

It feels very wintry, indeed.

I havn't even noticed before now that Husband has not pulled his shriveled peppers from the ground, they blended so well in the dead grass.


Yes, Charlotte's population had a good time with this winter luxury, which the weather channel termed "ice pellets" rather than snow.



It crossed my mind to metamorphosize into a modern-day Laura Ingalls Wilder and pour squashed strawberries and sugar into this bucket for nature-made slushies. A vague understanding of pollution and human filth was all that restrained me.

Khan noticed some things that brought him joy and enthusiasm as well.

He worked long, hard hours to excavate his favorite sticks from the snow.

And soon he resembled a frozen version of that dirty-nosed pup on the beach.

In honor of the cold, I made Julia's Watercress Soup.

And discovered I don't like watercress soup.

So,

I won't be making that again.

I did, however, like the peppermint mocha brownies I made to share at a cookout and a Bible study.

And Husband made a Dog-loo for Khan,

but couldn't force him inside

So he agreed to let him sit beside it and have his picture taken.

I also made a Linzer Torte:

Which wasn't exactly delicious,

But we ate it anyway because we were snowed in :)

It's been fun having a little snow this winter!