Good morning, snow!

This morning we have fluffy white stuff falling from the sky!

That was at 6:45-ish.  Now that it is almost 9am the flakes are a lot bigger and there are a lot more of them.  Lots and lots more of them. [I think the herbs in the planter box may be toast-- -don't you?]   Save for the driving in it part (my poor sister!), it is really cool.

For comparison, yesterday it looked like this:

My American friends, that's your National Christmas Tree.  It is probably undecked today as they were dismantling its compound yesterday morning.    And yesterday's chilly winds did not dissuade the "photo club" at the White House (though it did bring down the numbers considerably)--

Oh, something I never noticed/paid attention to before was this monument in the sidewalk between the White House and the National Christmas Tree.  It is the official Zero Milestone marker set in 1920 and from which all roads in the U.S. were supposed to be measured -- apparently that didn't happen, but we still have the milestone and a remembrance of the first Transcontinental Motor Convoy which went from DC to San Francisco in 1919.

I'm going to break the cool travel-ness here, and shoe-horn some stitching in -- otherwise you might think I was avoiding the issue...... you would be right!

I joined the By the Bay's Serenity Harbor SAL for the year, and for the last few days I've been jealously watching people's progress.  When i was packing I just could not see my way clear to packing this bundle:

That is a badly-lighted (sorry) pic of my floss toss for this.  See-- that's a pretty big bundle to pack.  So I am just going to have to wait until I give up my East Coast fling to get needles in to this one.

Ok, warning,  I am saying this up front:  this is NOT mine.  I merely facilitate the finishing for my friend Judy.

Isn't it pretty?  And we had the perfect shade of velvet in the finishing corral at the shop!  Such miracles do not happen every day!

She did a great job.  I sure would love to claim it as mine!...... especially since the eagle-eyed amongst you will note there are no pictures of my stitching progress since I have very little to show for the last few days.  Oops!

Ok, enough slight of hand,,,,   back to pretty vacation pics.

I was in DC a day before the family and I decamped for an early Christmas in St. Louis with one family bundle.  The first night in St. Loius we headed out to the light display at the Botanical Gardens and it was SPECTACULAR!  Kudos STL!!!!!!

Nope. That is not part of the Christmas lights, but I love Chihuly.

How cool is what I call "the light saber garden?!!"

For the Doctor Who fans... I don't think they meant to do this... or maybe they are fans too who could not resist......

And I leave you with a minor theme of my photos ...  the first pet of the holidays (besides Princess, of course).  Meet Q -- totally mellow and peaceful until you mention the "S" word.  [Squirrel]

Happy Tuesday!

P.S.  In case there is a very observant person out there who pays attention to my sidebar, you will note that in my Reads Allegedly in Process, Stephen King has appeared.  Now, that's not something I EVER imagined happening... ever.  But the 13-year-old nephew gave it to me for Christmas explaining that he remembered us talking about Edgar Allan Poe last year and he understood that King had his roots in Poe so obviously it was the perfect thing for Aunt Ruth.  Gulp.  What's an aunt to do? ---- Suck it up and read, that's what!  lol  Preening proudly that I've "raised" another generation of book people.