Candlelit! (And not because it’s the first Sunday in Advent)

O, the weather outside is frightful…

Odd, isn’t it, how those who extol the virtues of snow never make reference to how it strips the moisture from your skin, your sinuses, and your hair, nor do they discuss the painful ache in your fingers when they are SO. COLD., nor the unattractive shades of puce, blue, and lobster your face will turn after a few hours in -5°C (23°F) with a bit of a wind driving you on. They never mention how badly cold leaches you of energy or the ability to take a full breath, and how your muscles get a bit more tired than usual. Nope. They never say a thing about that. It’s all about the pretty. ::sigh::

We wakened yesterday with the first snow of the season laid down and pristine. It was gorgeous, and we saw both fox and goose prints in the two inches or so. (We also saw Mr. Fox, but all our photos of him were blurry. And the geese! Who knew they walked around so much on foot? Either that, or it’s really big crows, but they have more than three toes…) We were dubious about our trip, but we figured that since it was only a light snow, it was no longer snowing actively, and the salt trucks and all were out, things would be good. And we were fine. The bus had a few brief skidding moments before we hit the freeway, and we saw a few more accidents than usual, but all was well.

We arrived in Edinburgh with our group and just walked the city, ducking into doorways to photograph the Christmas Market fair, full of flashing lights and what must have been the coldest slide known to man (the workers were sweeping the snow off of it — I doubt they got many takers). The Ferris wheel rose above the city and from down below, the castle looked like a brooding white fortress. (As opposed to the brooding black fortress it normally looks.)

We walked for five hours in Edinburgh yesterday, chugging through the big city park, rambling through a graveyard, St. John’s Cathedral and then a castle outside of the city. While it was beautiful — and we have tons of lovely photographs to share with you soon — with the breezes blowing, it was ridiculous out. We hate it when we get housebound and don’t do anything in the dark gray days, but after heading toward Edinburgh and realizing it was snowing HARDER in Glasgow than it was there, and that clouds were building in Edinburgh … we realized we might have made a mistake in leaving the house.

That was T’s opinion before we even got started, of course. D. was hoping to do tons of photography, but T. knew it would be both cold and crowded in Edinburgh (her two FAVORITE things), and threatened to whine all day and call for copious mugs of hot chocolate as bribes (she surprised herself by doing neither) for having to be on a bus at 8:30 a.m. on a weekend morning. When we made it home at six o’clock, exhausted and tracking snow on our soaking wet cuffs and boots, we both groaned as the heat needled our cheeks. T. remarked, “I don’t mind the cold, but I just HATE being cold!”

There’s a fine line of distinction, you see. As long as it’s just snowing prettily through the window, see, it’s all good. When you’re foolish enough to be slogging through it (and in Edinburgh, as always, everyone and his dog are shopping, and it’s even worse with the Christmas Market going — thus the park and the graveyard, which were more lightly [live] peopled) dodging road traffic, foot traffic and just sheer aggravation — it’s miles worse.

And today is Day 2 of The Great Snow. It was snowing when we wakened. It has been snowing all day, off and on, and promises to continue to snow off and on, according to the Met Office, for two weeks. We are at eight inches now, and counting. Glasgow, a city where one can always find someone running down the street bellowing, singing tunelessly in front of the pub, puking behind the garbage cans, or pelting something at the seagulls, is remarkably, eerily quiet. We figure the partiers will come out when they run out of booze or get cabin fever. We expect that any hour now.

Meanwhile, we’re contemplating taking out the trash and making a dash across the street to pick up emergency rations from the gas station market (hopefully there’s anything left — although we doubt people really are in dire need of vegetables, so we’ll be fine). We were supposed to run to the Asian market this morning, but … thought we’d wait until the sun came out and the snow melted a bit. Yeah. Still waiting for that.

But we’re so grateful that the boiler is holding out. It’s wimpy, but it’s on, and, together with lighting all of the candles in the living room, we can get whole rooms warm!

Ah, the fourteen-foot ceiling. It seemed a good idea, at the time…

Pictures to come. Stay warm!