snow days

You may have heard by now (if you weren't in it), that we in the DC Metropolitan area got about 2 feet of snow in 24 hours.  This may be small potatoes for some other places, but down here I spend my winters praying for snow and being disappointed--this was a gift!  I, of course, was shoveling with camera in hand.  Here is is coming down on Saturday:

This was taken in the morning, by the way. It wasn't quite as dark as the photo shows, but it was pretty dark. Here it is the next day:

My best friend was undaunted by the snow, and continued with her plan to come visit for the weekend.  Charming host that I am, I put her behind a shovel.  I also fed her homemade jambalaya, cookies, showered her with presents (well, two) and taught her to play Scopa.  She was totally beating my pants off by the time she left, too.