It snowed Monday. I woke to a snowy whitewash covering everything. It melted by midday but served as a reminder that winter is marching our way. Today the wind blew snow sideways. Wind scares me more than almost anything Mother Nature can send our way...though I'm not a big fan of fire either. A tree branch blew across my path as I headed down 14th street to the Nichol house. It was one of those Wizard of Oz moments. Two huge trees across the street from the Lincoln building were making a deep cracking - crunching sound. I was clearing ice off the steps at the front of the building. The wind was in my face and I kept hearing this sound that I at first thought was something clanging in the wind. So I stopped sweeping just to figure out what I was hearing. I have a hard time describing the sound correctly. Imagine an ice cube that cracks in your glass. Now record the sound and alter the sound to go real deep. I really expected that at any moment the tree would explode! And here's the weird thing, after all the cold and ice and blowing tree parts, as I was walking back into the building, I found myself grinning about it all and thinking "Not interested in living in Florida!"

p.s. back to Wizard of Oz moments..... I saw a huge, beautiful rainbow this morning.... it has been a weird day!