We had a nice full weekend. Not too busy but with plenty to do. I don't seem to have taken many pictures of it but there were visits with family, good meals and some errands run. I also wound a bunch of skeins of yarn into balls and did quite a bit of knitting. The little sweater I was making for my niece is finished and delivered and I was finally able to get started on her Christmas stocking. These stockings are a family tradition (I made one a few years ago for my sister's husband when they got married) and I've been anxious to get working on this one. I really wanted the sweater to be done before Hannah grew out of it though so I kept at it and didn't let myself get distracted.

I'm not sure what the cats were looking at when I took this picture - possibly a small bird getting frozen crabapples from our tree - they look so intense.

It's snowing a bit outside today. The ground is too warm for it to stick but it's still kind of pretty and reminded me of these pictures from last weekend. Last Friday and Saturday we got a whole bunch of snow. In just a few hours on Friday night the world was transformed from drab greys and decaying greens to fluffy whiteness. Saturday morning had that wonderfully bright feeling that makes a cup of hot cocoa taste especially good. Our resident squirrel was at the feeder on the back deck quite a bit, filling up with nice, fatty peanuts.

By Sunday afternoon our snow was beginning to melt. We don't usually have permanent snow until closer to Hallowe'en but this layer had been so thick I'd been hoping it would stay. Even if it wasn't sticking around it needed to be cleared of the porch so I went around to the back yard to get out the snow shovel and put away the watering can that I'd forgotten the week before.

The snowy blanket made the garden look asleep but signs of past and current life were still visible. Random bits of green could still be seen poking up through the snow: the radish plants, some tufts of coarse grass, the calendula by the front door. Sets of tiny foot prints showed where our squirrel had been hopping from one garden box to another, perhaps carrying away extra peanuts for his winter food caches. A very small but slushy trail went from the shed to the steps below the feeder.

We have a pair of salt a pepper shakers snuggled up in our living room.