Snow Day

Adele and I were meant to go to Strabourg, France today for a girls trip and for her to take her sewing lessons. It snowed all of last night and is still snowing now, so Adele's husband advised against driving to France, which was a good thing because apparently the major roads are backed up in a "stau." We were really looking forward to our day in France, but I think we will reschedule for a nicer day when it is safe to drive and we can enjoy the outdoors.

So, the good news is that snow days mean that I can get a lot done at home. I have two weeks of holidays from my German school, so I am using this time wisely catching up with friends, housework, my business and of course speaking as much German as possible in preparation for my big test in April!! This morning I went out to the local little grocery store (2 minute walk by foot, wearing the new snow boots that Zev bought me) and was glad to run into the regulars who now know me by name "Frau York." I can't get them to call me "Fiona" for some reason, so of course I call them by their formal names too- Frau Reich, Herr Silberhorn and so forth. Even the "Mayor" was standing on the corner with his posse UNDER AN UMBRELLA by the way (because of the snow), was able to wave at me. The Mayor only has one arm and usually has a drink in this one arm, so I appreciated him making the gesture to say "hi."

I attempted my hand at what I call German craft. I have noticed that a lot of stores have these decorations at Easter time but also at other times of the year, where they take unusual looking sticks and hang sweet little decorations on them. Just so happens that across the street from our little grocery store, this young couple has opened a sort of thrift/ handmade goods store, right next to the bus stop. They are only opened a few days a week, and as they were opened this morning, I popped in and had a look. I met the loveliest lady and her baby girl who was sitting in a high chair out the back. I asked her about the little Easter eggs which were hanging in the window with "Happy Easter" written in German "Frohe Ostern." We got talking about their new business (her husband is an electrician and they sell some electrical appliances as well as her handmade goods in the store). Anyway, I bought some of her Easter eggs and came home to get started on my project. I thought about how to hang the eggs, and then looked out onto our backyard and noticed that the trees in the back had some interesting looking branches, all curly and delicate yet intriguing.

I picked out some of the low hanging ones and arranged them in a vase (given to us by Aunt Joanne at our wedding! Thanks Aunt Joanne!)

 I think my Easter tree looks just like the ones in the store. Do you like it? I hope Zev likes it. I think he will.

Have a good day. I am looking forward to Spring and Summer, but at least snow days are a good excuse to stay indoors and get the necessary things done. I wonder if that means I need to shovel the driveway now? 

Love and hugs,

Fi xoxoxo