Snow day – three things for Friday

It’s a snow day today. I am in my basement office chair listening to a new favorite band – the Avett Brothers. It’s peaceful and calm and using the morning to catch up on stuff that needs catching up on. I have a stack of papers in my school backpack that I plan to get to, but for now, at this moment, I can be present and reflect on the week behind and the week ahead.

the morning view through the front window

The SNOW DAY
Yesterday the buzz in the hallways and classrooms was all about the impending snow day. There was a lot of energy flowing- the kids, the teachers, everybody. I told my students that what we started Thursday was due Monday, regardless. So far, I have four ‘My Life as a Water Molecule’ stories handed in. Pretty good considering they’ve got three more days to do it.

I was on my way home when I got the call, or rather the tweet. First my daughter’s school district and a second later my school district tweeted – no school Friday.

I’d stopped at the grocery store on the way home for food and supplies my wife had asked me to get. She’d been shopping earlier and our fridge is full. She was working on a pot of chili when it began to snow. There is no good reason to leave the house today, except to clean the driveway or play in the snow.

It’s supposed to snow all day today and snow more tomorrow and Sunday. Then, next week rain is forecast for Thursday. February in the Midwest. Spring will be here before we know it.

SPRING is on the way….
My students and I have been tracking weather and sunshine data for 37 locations across the globe ranging from Tromso, Norway to Stanley, Falkland Islands since December and 35 more locations in between. Last week, we crossed the ten hours of sunlight threshold and we are headed for equal daylight and night on the equinox March 21st. Today we have 10 Hours and 23 Minutes, even though it’s cloudy and snowing. After the snow storm, the sun will shine brightly and the sky will be clear blue.

Today we are closer to spring beginning than we ware the beginning of winter. We’ve made it more than halfway. It’s still winter and according to the Punxsutawney Phil we have five more weeks of it, but I fell the hope of warmer temperatures and spring flowers breaking through the soil with color returning to Earth. See the below, it’s spring inside and winter outside, notice the snow on the railing.

The Winter Olympics
I enjoy the Winter Olympics and there is nothing more enjoyable in the dead of winter than to watch downhill skiing, bobsled races, or figure skating.

Last night as the chili was simmering on the stove we watched curling and the figure skating competition. We’ll watch the opening ceremonies tonight, even though they played out earlier today.

I remember watching the many of the Winter games but my first recollection of when I was an 8th grader and the Winter games were in in Innsbruck, Austria. I remember two names – Dorothy Hammill and Franz Klammer. Klammer won gold in the downhill and it was a thrilling performance. Hammill won gold in the women’s figure skating and her haircut was the rage and I distinctly recall many of my 8th grade (female) classmates with her hair style.

The Olympic games are always a hint of the hope that we can all come together and work towards a better world. That’s something.

The snowfall has slowed and I can hear movement upstairs – kids walking, doors opening and closing and that means snow shoveling time. So, I’d better hop up and go shovel. It’s gonna be a great day – I know it and I can feel it. So I’d better jump up, jump in, and seize the day. Making the Days Count, one day at a time, one shovelful of snow at a time, one shovelful of life, too.

What’s happening in your world today?

8 thoughts on “Snow day – three things for Friday

  1. We get very few snow days here in Vicksburg, but this winter we’ve had like six. Not for actual snow, mind you, for icy roads. Nobody here in the South is prepared for ice so everybody just panics and stays home. It’s very funny coming from Northern California where snow is a normal occurrence. You just put it in 4-wheel drive and plow your way through.

    I love you snow pictures. It’s not fun to go out and shovel, but to play in, awesome!

    Have a great rest of the week. I’m a little slow getting here this week, but I made it.

    Patricia Rickrode
    w/a Jansen Schmidt

    1. I didn’t want the snow day – but it did feel good to relax and have a three-day weekend. We have another three-day weekend for President’s Day this week and the following week the students have a four day weekend! I have to work, but a day without students really isn’t a full day. The snow day was our first ‘weather day’ in a few years. The kids loved it and I posted an extra credit assignment to measure the amount of water content in snow – I got 33 submissions! 27% of my students did it. Impressive. Have a great week and keep watching the Olympics.

  2. The 21st of March is also our wedding day – not ‘just’ the Equinox 🙂
    Imagine, we on Ile-de-France had 20cm of snow yesterday and another 5cm today… Never it was like that – the French are totally lost on the streets, no winter tires, some few chains, nothing – mayhem everywhere.
    We were out shaking off tons of snow from our early bloomers, camellias, budding magnolias, daffs…. at least one large tree will probably have to be taken down, already when we had snow (far less). It had its stems bent right down to the ground and even though we attached it firmly to another larger tree, it probably won’t make it ‘standing up’ again.
    Have a good weekend.

    1. I was incorrect, the equinox is Tuesday, 3/20 this year. Happy Anniversary ahead of time. Most of the snow is history as I write and I expect all of it will be gone by tomorrow. We have rain forecast for today and tomorrow with temperatures in the double digits +10C! The bulbs and other flowers are well into the future – I’ll have to survive on indoor flora. Have a great week.

    1. I keep asking myself… where does time go? I read your response and smiled. Mst of last week’s snow is in the seeped into the ground or has runoff. Today it’s above well above freezing and it’s raining. All of the snow will be gone. and that mean’s mud for the dog’s paws… keeping sending us warmth and sunshine. Have a great week and thank you for stopping in…

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