Winter beauties

So, it looks like the groundhog has thrown us a curve ball this year! I'm sure it's just temporary and we can fully expect our usual 6 more weeks of winter, but today, you could hardly believe it.

A couple of days ago, we narrowly missed a real "dumpage" of snow. A rare band of heavy, isolated snow showers covered a good part of our county with 12" of snow. We had a few flurries earlier in the day and when the reporter came on TV that evening talking about the amounts in Lititz (15-20 miles away from us) I found it hard to comprehend.

When the newly inaugurated automatic phone call system for Lancaster Country Day School woke me the next morning AT 5:30 AM (!) to let me know there was a 2 hour delay, I was still confused, especially since my son graduated from the school in 2004!

So, the next day, when we took out a few deliveries, it was interesting to see all the snow within miles of our house.

We had stopped at Landis Valley Farm Museum and were greeted with different vistas than usual. A couple of the buildings really stood out in the white background, much more than in the usual lush greenery I am accustomed to.

This yellow building is right across from The Weathervane (the gift shop) and I had never noticed how bright it was until this day, seeing it framed by the bright blue sky, the bare branches and the snowy ground.
As we were climbing in the car, I thought a shot of the newly painted Weathervane Shop would be in order too. This is really a lovely place to visit. You might want to think about it if you come to visit our fair county and have never have been there. The museum is full of nifty old farm equipment and lots of interesting stuff for kids and grownups as well!
The other thing I wanted to share today was a charcoal drawing I did, probably 30 years ago. I had just finished a drawing from life class and was pretty pleased with how my skills had progressed.
One afternoon, I set up this still life and started drawing. It has always been one of my favorite pictures and it is framed and hangs in our living room. A new forum I frequent has a thread right now of people's artwork and although I don't think I'll share it there, it inspired me to take a picture of it - just in case something should someday happen to it.

We've just realized that orders are starting to come in for spring (despite the groundhog) and we are sadly in need of some soap on the shelves... Today will be spent getting a couple of orders out and then preparing to make soap: weighing fats, preparing molds, etc., etc.