Last night, there was a truly beautiful snow storm. It started raining mid-afternoon, gradually switching to sleet, and then snow, and kept snowing through midday. And what beautiful snow it was! Deep, light and fluffy, thicky white, smoothing out all the lines of landscape and making the house luminous with reflected light. There was little wind, so it was easy to shovel, especially with three of us working on it, and it didn't drift too badly. How much? 13 inches of the stuff. I measured between 11 and 14 inches out in the open, but even under the trees we had 9 inches.

Because of the sleet and ice yesterday, my sister couldn't drive up too. It's an extra good reason to go visit her separately in the near future. Perversely, I'm changing planes in the city she (and, for now, innostrantsa) is in, but don't have much time between flights, and so won't have a chance to visit her this time.

Today too, I attended the first Bar Mitzvah I've been to. It was a nice ceremony, very ceremonial in the best of senses, full of good words and sentiments and funny parts, and formality, and family. Coming home when there's a big event like this makes it extra-easy to see people I know from home. Between the various related meals today, I've eaten quite well. The chocolate chip cookies at lunch were particularly good, as were the strawberries with dessert at dinner.

It's good to be home.