'snow fair!

Yes, it's snowing here too.

Bruce and I went downtown to take in the "Dickens of a Christmas" festival, which bears some resemblance to the Muscatine Christmas Stroll (without the Symphony), except they expect 50,000 people in Franklin for the 2-day event. The outdoor vendors and folks in period vintage costumes were drenched in a couple of inches of rain yesterday, and when we ventured out in the snow today, we estimated about 200 brave souls on the streets, not including the shivering collection of school children performing on the outdoor stage with their recorders. I'm pretty sure the Muscatine folks would have considered 29 degrees rather balmy and come out 5000 strong, although Miss Louise School of Dance always performs indoors. 

What a difference a few degrees of latitude make! The next door neighbors are outside taking pictures and throwing snowballs (you have to scrape to get enough - we've only had about 3/4" so far).  Apparently, this is a big deal.  The folks in the car next to us downtown were using a fast food drink holder tray to scrape off their car windows. We offered the use of one of our scrapers/brushes, but they thought they were doing OK with their makeshift cardboard.

Neighbors across the street asked us to pick up their newspaper and mail while they are away this weekend - we view that as a reasonable sign that we're starting to settle. We also had the locksmith in to re-key all the locks because we have no idea who has keys (a cleaning service, for sure) to the house. Seemed a responsible thing to do.

Off for a Sunday afternoon nap!