beyond the groundhog

For all who watch the weather, my dear daughter has new insight for you:

"Mommy, "she said without blinking, "when a fish sees its shadow it means two more months of rain."

There you have it. Add it to the Almanac.

In other news...we're surrounded by the dangerous beauty of two inches of ice here in the Ozarks. It is gorgeous but you truly wouldn't want to go outside. The branches are creaking and cracking all over the property. The Silver Maple that reaches over my writing room has lost at least 10 of its highest boughs.

During the ice storm when the electricity went out, we snuggled inside a tent in our living room (Barry is an amazing daddy) with pillows and blankets, built robots, played memory games, and spent a lot of time in front of the fireplace. It was a very precious time for our family.

Though I'm grateful to have plumbing again, the experience did leave me thoughtful regarding how the presence of media options (computers, leapsters, videos) affects family interaction. We already have limits on screen time for the kids and several media-free days and zones, but I think we'll keep moving toward even less in the future. I liked doing crafts by candlelight :-).