Second snow of the year

DOGS ROMPING IN THE SNOW

 We had several days warning that a winter storm was coming. That gave us all time to rush to the grocery store and load up on bread and milk. It takes no time for the already half empty shelves to completely empty out. I am not worried about running out of food, the real fear is loss of power. If the electricity goes out--which is always a possibility during any kind of storm--we will have no way to cook or keep warm. And it's unbearably BORING sitting around in the cold, dark with nothing to do. The ice and snow started early Sunday morning and continued most of the day. Things thawed out a bit on Monday (MLK holiday), but froze up again overnight. It looks like it will be a dry week, but a cold one.

We spent most of the weekend binge watching a series "Raised by Wolves." It is awesome! So interesting, smart, beautifully filmed, with excellent effects and great acting. It's a refreshing change from our usual fare. We've been watching a lot of bad movies lately--on purpose. Low-budget, grade B movies from the 50s and 60s mostly. Some of them show up on "MST3K" and "Rifftrax". Others we randomly find on YouTube. But after that, we need to see something really good, you know, to cleanse the palate, so to speak. 

So, that was that for my 3 day weekend. It's back to work today.

First Snow of the Year

 The day before it was 70 degrees, then overnight we had a terrific rain storm with wind, lightning, thunder--the whole bit. There was some flooding in the low lying areas. The temperature dropped to below 40 in the morning and then it started SNOWING! It was freaky. Then in the afternoon, the sun came back out. All this over the course of about 12 hours. 

Bert said they got over a foot of snow in the DC area. I heard that there was a massive traffic jam around there with people stuck on I-95 for upwards of 20 hours. 

Yo, NATURE, dude! It's amazing.

I hope we get another snow fall this season--I love snow, as long as the power stays on. We haven't had any real snow to speak of in over 3 years. I think we're overdue.

Nicholson Family 1939

 Wonderful photo of the Nicholson clan from 1939. Parents, Francis and Frances in front. Mike's father, David, center back. Next to him is Mary Webb. She was the first licensed woman pilot in NC.

 During World War II American women were barred from any type of combat duty, so Mary joined a group of women pilots who would ferry planes for the British Air Transport Auxiliary. In May of 1943 she was flying when her plane developed engine problems. She made an emergency landing in a farm field, but was unable to avoid hitting a farm building. Mary Nicholson was the only American woman in the ATA-RAF to die in World War II.

Frank Nicholson was one of the original Piedmont Airlines pilots and his son Tommy is also a commercial pilot. 

Piedmont was based in Winston-Salem. It was bought out by USAir in 1989. 

Art by James Arthur

I wanted to post this because it's hilarious and smart. James A. is such an inventive kid. He is very much like his father was at his age. 
 

Giving Thanks for Family

 My wonderful brother was driving back from Atlanta after spending Thanksgiving with Allanna. He, Arrianne and husband Kyle, along with Jon and his family all met together for lunch. We ate at Pho Happiness, an excellent Vietnamese joint. The food is great, although the menu is limited somewhat these days due to "supply chain issues." It was so nice to get together...we don't get to do that much. By the time the pandemic is under control, I'll be too old to do any traveling. I guess we just have to do the best we can in the meantime.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Day 2021. Staying home this year. There's still too much covid in the air. Maybe next year we'll be over the worst of this crap. It's getting tiresome. ANYHOW...we had the Nicholson traditional holiday nachos. And later we're going to watch some old Godzilla movies. I have the next 11 days off from work. WooHoo!! I am SO looking forward to doing stuff that is not work related. 

DTCC doesn't pick back up until end of January...so I really do have time off from everything. 

I got some nice text messages from several friends and family members. I count them among my many, many blessings. 
 

Art of the Carolinas

 For the record: Pargie and I attended Art of the Carolinas in Raleigh this year. We each took a class. She took an oil portrait painting class and I took a journaling one. It was okay, but I won't be taking a workshop from this artist again. She has ADD and was SO scatter-brained. It was a little frustrating. But, AOC is always a blast. And Pargie is the most amazing human alive. It was really nice hanging out with her.