Attention: I think we should all worry about Global Warming... ;)

White Christmases.....there's a whole song written about them....they are the staple of Christmas paintings....but I've never personally seen one. We almost had a white Christmas a few years ago...turned out to be a White-December-26th! :) One year at a Christmas party a few years back, we were talking about snow in the winter in our area (virtually non-existant some years) and one boy quipped: "♫ I'm dreaming of a white Christmas, just like the ones we've never had.... ♫"
But this year there is hope. This will be our third round of snow down here this winter already! Amazing! Today we are expecting 3-6 inches of the glorious white stuff! :) I understand that for farmers snow is bothersome and in the way, but no one, even the Scroogiest Scrooge who lives within the confines of an apartment house can't resist feeling a quickening of the heart when he sees a patch of fresh snow. Whenever I wake up to a world cloaked in white, the first words that flood my heart are: "Although your sins are scarlet, I will make them white as snow..." and, just as God's grace covers my sins, the beautiful snow covers the fallow fields, and the bare trees, and turns the ugliest corner of the yard into a glistening cathedral.
Has it never inspired you with somewhat of a sense of adventure to see a stretch of snow that has never, ever, ever been walked on before? I am still little-girl enough to put on my boots, and tramp over to a patch of pristine snow, pausing at the edge to let the beauty sink in, and then tromping over it, looking over my shoulder and laughing at the big tracks I make.
It's a part of winter that I doubt I'll ever get over! :)
So I am eagerly awaiting the promised snow, the third of the season, wishing for a White Christmas at last, while wondering...
Just why is everyone so worried about global warming? :) ~Rachel

"I Am Blanking Out On A Title For This Post "

Dear Blogging People: How are you?
By the way, does anyone else have trouble finding ways to open up a post? I do not seem quite able to master the art of an enthralling first word. Maybe if I started out something like, "It was a dark and stormy night..." and the rest would soon follow, "and Rachel sat typing at the keyboard." Not gonna cut it is it? Here is something that you will soon hear about if you talk with me about poetry: I do not in any way, shape or form like un-rhyming poetry. (generally.) That being said, I shall post a couple of poems that Sarah and I made up simply to disgust ourselves by pretending to be Mr. Carl Sandburg who is characterized by calling fog "cat feet" and all a manner of other things strange:

"The jaguar moves on silent feet-
Velvety feet through the jungle.
Where is he going?
Only he knows.
On velvet feet he steps across a log--
A dead, moss-covered log.
Startling a bird
He pauses- velvet
Paw held in the air.
Dark mists hide
Him
Where is he going?
Only his velvet feet know."

Now, if that weren't disgusting enough, here's one more:

"Drifting in endless columns
From the
Chimney where it came,
Choking columns float toward the sun,
Like a form of night,
Paled by the sun.
Gray smoke cloaks the
Lone pine from
My watching eyes.
I think- what is
Smoke?
A nightmare in
cloud-form?
A rain-cloud gone
Astray or perhaps
Just the cloud rising from
The logs on the
Hearth. I wonder, and
Watch the lone pine
Disappear in the
Smoke."

Okay. Bear with me. We were laughing so hard because people get famous from writing stuff like that. Who can call such things poetry? I am incredulous at some of those sorts of things. They are the most boring scribblings in the world I think. Here is a rhyming poem that I wrote about the subject:

"Analogies"

Like a truffle without chocolate

Like an apple without peel,

Like a mouth without a smile

Like a letter without seal,

Like a ring without a diamond

Like a watch without the time,

Like a fountain without water

Is a poem without rhyme.

Okay. And just for you Joanna, (and someone better comment or I'll never post poetry again) here is the one about our forest in the snow:

"Snow Lace"

The finest kind of lace I know

Is what the trees wear in the snow:

Their barren arms are covered quite

With snowy lace of dazzling white,

And glad I am to finally see

Them traced in silver-filigree.

The trimming on a wedding dress

May never fail you to impress.

And yet, a costly bridal veil

Beside the snow is coarse and pale.

More shimm'ring than the milk-weed down

Can be the greenwood's marriage gown--

And lo, the roots are even shod

In lace spun by Almighty God.

Okay. Hope you enjoyed that someone. And please believe me when I say that Sarah and I do not think the first two poems were good! They are impeccably revolting! :) -Rachel

I Can't Think of A Title To Catch The Eye And Interest Any of Our Followers So Humph!

Greetings people! I hope you read this! I don't like writing posts where we get absolutely no feedback! It makes me wonder if someone sat at there computer in total shock at our audacity or shenanigans or something of that sort, and that you will never speak to me again! Or that you've fallen asleep with utter boredom! Today we don't have to start school because the Strothers slept over. Their heat was broken, and since they have a 2 1/2 week old baby they wanted to come to a place that was warm. He is sooooo cute! I love babies! (Morgan, don't you wish you were here? ;) So! We also borrowed the Wilsons splitter, so we have been splitting wood and stacking it. All said and done we have about 1 1/2 cords done today. While stacking it, we discussed the size of the wood pile mentioned in On The Banks of Plum Creek. In one chapter Laura and Mary are home alone when it starts snowing, and Laura is scared there will be a blizzard, so she runs back and forth outside and ends up bringing the whole stack inside. At the time she was 8 or so. It was quite an interesting conversation. All agreed that the pile couldn't have been huge, but then, it was mentioned that since they used wood for heat and cooking, it must have been substantial. Unless there was a small pile near the house and a bigger one somewhere else. Who knows and who really cares? But it gave us something to talk about. I got squirrel-syndrome stacking that wood. For those of you who don't know, that is a warm, cozy, feeling where I like to "squirrel" away things for the winter. Woodpiles, making jam, freezing peas and beans, all sorts of things occasion it for me! :) It has been rather cold here! But I like seasonable weather! We have had a revelation recently: the Winter Olympics will be on the same week we are in N.Y. with Uncle Lon and Aunt Heather, so we can watch them inside, then have our own in the snow outside! Yay! My favorites are figure/couple skating, luge, (sp?) and downhill skiing. (By the way, this is Rachel) If you think of it, please pray for us around 7:00 tonight, because we'll be voting for Daniel to be president of our Gen-J club, and I really think he is the only guy running who will be able to keep a bunch of kids in order and productive! (I love Daniel)
Well, see some of you guys at church on Sunday! -Rachel

We've All Become Popsicles! :)

Shall I describe to you the scene of severe cold in our home? Yesterday Sarah and I were home by our "lonesome" with the little ones while Mama was shopping for birthdays, Christmas, and a party we are catering today. Dad likes to keep the thermostat as low as he can until as late as he can, using the woodstove for heat. The only problem is.... Sarah and I are not about to run a woodstove when there is no adult home. (Another thing I am slightly scared of is a fire :) So there we were, two faithful daughters keeping a lid on the children at home, while our noses and fingers froze. You see, the thermostat was set at 67. We were not wearing exceedingly warm clothes, (our fault) and we were not wearing socks. (our fault again. I always, without fail walk smack through a puddle of water on the kitchen floor or something and so I don't like wearing socks inside.) Rather than become properly attired for an artic expedition like we experienced, we.... well, we just stayed in our regular clothes. Sarah had to stop playing the piano because her fingers were too cold. I had to sit on my bed in a ball to get warm enough to read comfortably. I rejoiced when I had to make 50 biscuits because it meant running the oven. I jumped on every chance to go in the laundry room because the dryer vent has not been cut outside, so it blows warm, albeit wet air into the room and makes it toasty. The one thing that kept us from freezing altogether was the perpetual cups of tea. During the winter we keep up a shocking intake of the liquid. So there you have it. We are lost without our woodstove, and must either freeze or wear layers of clothing. (I eventually put on shoes) And last night, we set the temperature down to 63! Brrrrr!!!!! Okay. Enough about our coldness. I am sure we shall be regaled with tales of the thirty degree temperatures Abigail T. must suffer and the frostbite she got on her nose when her sister kicked the blanket off her. ;) Okay. Sarah wants to write about our first snow.....????
Hello! We got our first "snow" last night while we were at a Christmas party and it started to snow!! It was the wet kind (perfect for snowballs) and a few of us adventurous ones ran out and had a quick snowball fight(more like slush balls- I came in soaking wet from 3 snowballs thrown in my face) so that was really fun. And the bigger surprise was when we got home our house had gotten about an 1/2" on the cars, although everywhere else the rain had melted it away. But still it was our First Snow of this winter and I'm glad that even if we don't have a White Christmas, we got snow before!
That's All For Now, Folks!(from Looney Tunes:)
-Rachel and Sarah