Well, they predicted cold - and we sure got it today and apparently it is going colder.
We are expecting temperatures of -7 which probably isn't cold for many places but it's pretty nippy for here.
But oh my - we are a shocking country for making a drama out of a crisis. The scare-mongering in the media is ridiculous. I saw a BBC news update of commuters battling their way to work this morning through the snow. There was NO snow on the ground and they were cycling through light flurries of flakes. For goodness sake. I know we don't have snow often and so we are not geared up for it, but come on people, get a sense of perspective.
We were in Massachusettes in 1997 when we experienced a proper storm - The April Fool's Storm of 1997
We were staying with Nigel's brother in Concord MA and the day before, easter Sunday, we had been ont he green in Concord Centre in t shirts looking at spring flowers. Jim woke us early Easter Monday as he was off to work and said if the man came to shovel the snow we were to tell him to come after 5 pm. We laughed at the joke. I had arranged to spend the morning in the Alcott School in the town (Yes I know I was on holiday but it was a chance to spend time observing in an American school) and when I arrived I was told they wouldn't be open past lunchtime because of the snow. I swer to you it was mild and blue sky and not a flake anywhere. I left at 12.00 and when we got back to the house it began to snow. The temperature plummeted and they had 24 inches of very wet and heavy snow fall in under 24 hours. Oh my I have never seen snow like it. It was very wet and heavy and I will never forget the explosion sounds as branches around were breaking under the weight. It was beautiful and like nothing we had ever seen. We were due to fly out the next day - the eastern Seabord was closed! But the snow stopped at midday on the Tuesday and bearing in mind it is quite a rural community and Jim lives ona small road, we drove on cleared roads into the centre at 3.30 pm. The snow was cleared with endless people just fising a snow plough to their 4 x 4 and driving. It stopped nothing.
It still ranks as one of the top 10 worst storms to hit the east coast
The forecast for a major snowstorm on April Fool's Day in 1997 was no joke.
Heavy snow buried locations from southern and central New England to the Catskills of New York and the Poconos of northeast Pennsylvania March 31-April 1, 1997.
Boston saw 25.4 inches of snow in 24 hours, ranking as the fourth heaviest snowstorm on record in the city. The day before the storm, temperatures were in the 60s.
Farther west, Worcester, Massachusetts, saw its heaviest snowstorm on record dating back to 1892 with 33 inches. To the south, Providence, Rhode Island picked up 18 inches.
A few spots, including East Jewitt, New York, and Milford, Massachusetts, had to dig out from storm totals of three feet.
The combination of the heavy, wet snow and strong winds caused major damage to trees and powerlines. More than 750,000 customers lost power.
Now THAT was snow
Pictures which show after the snow plough and once the centre was clear ... beautiful to experience but I wouldn't want to live with it all the time. Barb I bet you have seen far far worse
My briother-in-laws road with us exploring
His house somehwere buried









I have had a few scrappy days but as this is picture heavy already will just share a couple ... a paper page first which is not the most beautiful page but tells a funny story of how Nigel was mugged in Memphis ... by a parking machine


and a digital page of Alice made for a Pickleberrypop Challenge

Today I am grateful that the cats, Fiki in particular, seems a little bit better. He was a very poorly boy this morning. I know it sound silly but he looked ill, he couldn't open his eyes properly. wasn't purring (unhreard of) his tail was down and he wouldn't eat or sit or relax. He was hunched and obviously in a lot of discomfort. We were a little relieved that Kira also appeared less than her usual self, ate little and was very quiet (unusual for her) as this indicated a bug of some sort not soemthing more serious. I am convinced it was traces of onion (poisonous to cats) in chicken I gave them on Saturday. The chicken had been cooked in a sause with onions and although I scrapped the sauce off their there may have been onion traces. I should know better. They will not be having treats like that again. They seem to have perked up a little, but we are wathing them both carefully.
and Barb, the cat on the thatched roof was straw too. But very cute