Preparing for the Storm

An ice storm is underway. The compost bin was already coated with a slick glaze when I took a bowl of vegetable scraps and egg shells out to it at five o' clock. The fire place is roaring and dinner was topped off with cups of hot chocolate. Grocery store parking lots masqueraded as the day before Thanksgiving with customers packing their carts with bread, eggs, and milk en lieu of turkey and stuffing. We spent our afternoon preparing for the storm in a different way (don't worry Mom, I grabbed my bread, eggs, and milk yesterday). We piled in the car and drove to a new (to us) museum. We wandered about the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art, checking out a wigwam and teepee (which Audrey was very disappointed to find stowed safely behind a security rail) and running about the interactive lower level between sod house, Chinese general store, and stage coach. Somewhere among the museum's dress up gear, Audrey ran across a carpet bag, which she filled with all the available food in the general store before boarding the stage coach with the one other family in that section of the museum (with three little boys, one sharing Nate's exact birthday). As they "traveled" to California, she pulled out snacks for everyone to eat along the way. It seems that food preparations were on everyone's minds. We took our time, playing and lingering, getting in one last out-and-about adventure before the storm drew us in.

Audrey has finally shed her apron from helping me make risotto for dinner. Nathan is pulling himself up, knees first, into Audrey's rocking chair near the fire as Jason and Audrey snuggle at the hearth. In the background, Christmas music plays (yes, Christmas) from a cd we just received in the mail of our dear and talented friend, Katie Ott. Somehow, with the sleet pricking the windows and each of us tired from a day of adventures behind us, the harp strings and cozy winter ballads feel just right.