Well, we're supposed to have a "winter storm" today. As usual, they keep downgrading the amounts of snow that they're projecting that we're gonna get . . . at one time, the glittering promise of 9 inches was forecast on Weather Underground, but now it looks like we'll max out at 6, if we're lucky. (Why can't we just have a good, old-fashioned blizzard? Like the one that closed everything down in metro Detroit for four days in 1965? Or the kind my family used to encounter on the way from Chicago to Detroit - one of which landed us at the Southgate Motel for the night, which turned out to be one of the high points of my childhood . . . Or the one in 1978 that had the state troopers preventing people from driving on the streets in Lansing? Ahh, that was a great one; people were cross-country skiing everywhere, even to the bars . . . It felt like Norway or something.)

Sigh.

Very few people around here understand my love of winter. (The only member of my family who even has a clue about this is the dog, who loves winter as much as I do. We take many happy walks.) So that's why I was so entranced to read Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's (aka the Yarn Harlot) blog post about skating the length of the Rideau Canal in Ottawa. (You might have to scroll down to read that entry; she posts frequently.) I keep forgetting about Winterlude . . . Not sure how I'd get there, anyway, but the whole notion just captivates me. (Gaylord's Tip-Up Town and hordes of snowmobilers seems way less romantic . . . )

Ah, well. I suppose I should count my blessings; six weeks ago, even six inches of snow seemed out of the question . . .