Snow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Finally, the weather predictions were accurate and the southeastern corner received a beautiful, bountiful snowfall!

Stores were jam-packed at the last minute selling provisions for all of those who hoped to be snowbound for days!

The Andersons, too, though we'd like to proclaim and frequently advocate self-sufficiency, sent poor little Rose into the fray for potatoes, bird seed, gelatin (for the bird seed cakes!), butter, peppermint for Ainslie's non pariels, ginger root and other goodies.

I woke at four in the morning to the beautiful sound of the wind "wutherin'" about the cozy log walls bringing The Beach's version of a blizzard.

Seven o'clock saw four excited babes peering out their bedroom windows in awe of the view. The clouds dispersed their glorious gift all day, pausing momentarily to dispense sleet and thereby a perfect crust on the powdery snow.

Altogether Pungo received 9 inches! It seemed like 20 and might as well have been, so shut down did the town become.

I must have made fifty cups of tea and goats' milk cocoa and removed, dried and changed thirty separate outfits in the course of the day. My expertise at layering came into play. Creamy Norwegian undershirts and long woolens, leggins, flannel-lined jeans and flannel shirts, wool vest, sweater, down vest, waterproof barn jackets, gloves and hats!

Evening saw delicious ham, fried apples, Ainslie's biscuits with honey, green beans and Rose's potato pancakes. We lit the candles, read aloud and knit.

The next morning dawned bright and sunny without a trace of clouds.

Under this bright blue sky we hung sliced oranges and apples from the old Christmas tree that daddy tied to the gazebo. We fashioned treats for the birds with seeds and gelatin tied with pretty hemp twine.

The goats were so unaccustomed to the snow that we had to lure them out of their barn. We all were tickled to watch them walk so daintily, yet clumsily.

Rose was a beautiful sight on Caledonia who was very impatient as I tried to snap his picture. He sidestepped and pranced, anxious to get back to his business of taking Rose on a hunt for green grass buried beneath the snow.

Kevin was so overcome with thankfulness at one point during this snowbound weekend and he humbled me into a similar gratitude for hearth and home.