Smiles across the miles, melting snow and Turkey Day

I'm glad to have provided amusement with my little tantrum about our weather-tantrum. I REALLY believe that laughter is the best medicine in most cases, with the possible exception being anything to do with goutweed. Have I mentioned that I really, REALLY don't like goutweed? Yeah, I thougt I might have. 

Further amusement is to be had today, as the temperature shot up well above freezing and a southeast wind came to visit. The prodigious piles of snow are melting dramatically, although it's not going to be all bare ground overnight. 

Lately, I haven't had much time to answer comments, even though I read and cherish each one as much as I do the plants in my garden. But I have to tell you that the comments to my last post tended to crack me up completely, as you ran the gamut from sympathy to envy to sheer astonishment at that much snow to relief that you don't get this much as we do. I'm with Tyra, actually, I love snow within reason and I like a little chaos as much as the next person. However, it never ceases to astonish and somewhat amuse me that people completely forget, from one winter to the next, how to cope with winter in this province. 

Like putting on snowtires. It's a no-brainer in Nova Scotia. We get snow. And ice, and sleet, and slush, and a whole lot of other nasties. All season tires were designed for Florida or California, (no disrespect meant to anyone in either illustrious place) not for the vagaries of a Maritime winter. And driving a four wheel drive vehicle does not guarantee that you won't end up in the ditch either if you drive like an idiot. Being a curmudgeonly sort at times, I tend to want to smile and wave when I see a four-wheel drive SUV or such off the road--especially if they blew past me going far too fast down the road a ways. 

But the thing that cracks me up the absolute MOST is the big run on snow shovels every November. Hello? Snow shovels don't have a best before date. They don't go bad, and they don't generally run away from home. So where are all these people coming from that buy out all the snow shovels in every snow? We didn't get a big inmigration of people from Florida OR California, the last time I checked. Maybe some folks are so caught up in being trendy that they have to buy a new snow shovel every year?  Can't you hear it now? 

"Oh, THAT old thing? That's SOOOOOOO 2007, dahlink. We MUST get the fab new Sno-Pushr 900, it's what everyone in the subdivision is using to clear their doorsteps off with."

Seriously. I bought my snow shovel in 1995. It still has its original handle. AND it doubles as a stall cleaner, too. 

I'm off to the south shore tomorrow to do another session of Writers in the Schools (I was in Halifax on Monday at an awesome school!) and I hope to get a chance to see a friend of mine once my day is done. But I had to share the picture above with you, and leave you all with another little story. 

As other garden bloggers (or bloggers with other interests) will attest, the best part about this activity of ours is the sharing of interests and meeting of others. It's especially that way with gardening, I think, because I've made some genuine friends over the past several years of keeping bloomingwriter going, although I have another interest that has also led to forming some wonderful friendships across the world. My longsuffering spouse brought the mail in to me this morning, and there was this amazing postcard above. It's made of material, serged along the edges and with awesome patchwork applique and embroidery, sent to me by a friend across the miles who wanted to let me know she was thinking about me. I'll be framing it and putting it up on the wall because every time I look at it, I smile. 

And that, as Martha would say, is a Very. Good. Thing. 

To all my American friends, a safe, joyous and delectable Thanksgiving tomorrow. Travel safely, those going to loved ones' homes, and have a wonderful time. I expect to be finding lots of interesting recipes for leftover turkey in the days following.