This is what we woke up to this morning.

It was covering everything.

Nature made interesting sounds.

Ice skating on the sidewalk was possible.

I may or may not have finished clearing out the garden this fall.

The world was brown and grey.

But interesting in the details.

Who was clipping papers on my deck?

Probably those meddling kids.  No school for them today.  Made working from home–well–challenging.

So the other night I had a few quiet hours–a calm before the storm if you will.

Last night I was out trying to cram in some errands before the snow hit.

It started a little earlier than the meteorologists expected.

At midnight, the roads were littered with people who spun out, drove into ditches or couldn’t get up a hill. My 13 yo and I toodled around picking up detergent, getting gas, watching the light show at the gas station (seriously. You tune into a specific radio station and all the lights are choreographed to the music. Without the music it just looks like a 3 yo is in control of the nobs.)

We probably had 3 inches on the ground by 1:00 a.m.

This morning I woke up to this.

(the last two were taken UNDER my car port)

The kids couldn’t believe their eyes.

We haven’t had much snow in the past few years, but the accumulation overnight was nothing compared to what it was by 4:30 p.m.

I tried to take a few of the same shots so you could see the difference.

It’s dark now, but I just let the dog out–our 70 lb black lab. The snow is up to her back. Poor thing didn’t know where to pee. Once she figured it out though, she was off bounding through the snow.

Little P asked me if the snow was going to be here when he woke up in the morning.

I think it’s a pretty safe bet.

Hope you all are keeping warm on this December night.

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If you’d like to see the rest of my photos from today, hop on over to my Flickr page.

On Election night eight years ago, I was at a trade association poll watching party at about this time. These were the days when news outlets were still calling results based on exit polls.

I stood in a large crowd, one of the lone Democrats, when Pennsylvania was called for Gore. You could hear the collective groan as the news popped up on screen after screen throughout the
room.

My heart started racing. It took everything I had not to let out a loud “Woot!” but I was surrounded by clients and I was new to my job.

With Pennsylvania over, the party started dying down which gave me the opening I wanted to head over to the party I REALLY wanted to attend–the Democratic Party party at the Mayflower Hotel.

I jumped in my car, raced through downtown DC wanting to be among my people–old friends to hug and new friends to high five. Throwing all caution to the wind, I pulled into the valet, threw the bell captain my keys and ran into the ballroom. And I was so confused.

It was quiet.

Had everyone cheered too loudly and lost their voice? Were they worn out from jumping up and down and just taking a rest?

No. The news outlets realized they had prematurely called the race. In the time it took me to get across town, the whole election had turned around. We stood in the ballroom for hours and continued to hug, but the hugs were not to celebrate they were to console.

It would be weeks before we all knew the “official” outcome of the race–weeks before I gave up.

Tonight I am far more hopeful for a Democratic win, but I’m far more cynical too.

I hope the main stream media doesn’t screw it up again.