A snow storm makes for a good reading in an old house.

We closed up shop at work at noon today. It started snow storming in the morning and by noon, the roads were just barely passable. We decided to get out while we could since most of our clients had canceled anyway and since the buses stopped running, most of our families couldn't get to us.

School was canceled, so Bing and Liv were home waiting for me.

I hate the snow. I truly DETEST snow in February. It is not pretty any more and I look outside and don't see a shimmering blanket of white anymore. I see skidding cars, a wet dog coming in after letting him out to pee and sheets of ice on my driveway.

But, I love having long hours of just lollygagging at home. We have plenty of food in the house, stocked up on milk, bread, eggs, coffee and um...almond cookies last night when we made a run to the grocery store anticipating this.

Bing is watching television. Liv just came in after a run with Socks in the back yard. She was red cheeked and laughing. His black fur was covered in snow, he loves the stuff and dives head first into it, trying to bite it. I stood watching them play in the snow, Liv leaping around with Socks chasing her and smiling his doggie smile, barking with sheer pleasure, jumping on her and trying to knock her into the snow. This snow may be good for snow men. I am very glad that Liv no longer begs me to make them with her. She and few neighborhood kids go at it and there is usually a snow ball fight. I well remember when she was four and there were no kids in the neighborhood and this snow man building and snow angel making was left up to me. I would cheerfully show her how to make a snow man, silently praying that the time would go quickly because I hate being cold and hate being wet and cold even more. I don't miss it.

I am looking forward to spending the afternoon reading. I am reading a fantastic book called The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb. It is one of those books, the kind that you take to work and read during your lunch hour. I put it in the second drawer of my desk and peek at it all morning and then when lunchtime comes, I shut my office door, kick off my shoes, pull out my bologna and velveeta (shut up, Dive!) sandwich and cup-at-hand of tomato soup, my korean pear and I just jump in to this book, get lost in the Quirk family. I tuck my foot up under me and read slowly, taking a sip of soup now and then, a bite of sandwich. The hour goes by too quickly and soon Elly is buzzing me that my 1:00 appt is here.

I love it when a book does that to you. I love laying on the sofa at home on my side and curling up with the book next to me, the dog at my feet, maybe a cup of tea on a nearby table.

And I have several books waiting in the wings:

The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister
Things I Want My Daughters To Know by Elizabeth Nobel
The Mystery of Breathing by Perri Klass

And my early Valentine from Bing: Club Dead by Charlaine Harris. If you like Sookie Stackhouse vampire books as much as I do....let me know. This series is just...tasty. The HBO show True Blood is based on these books and is fantastic.

I don't get non-readers. I always have a book waiting.

I especially love reading my books in my old house. I love listening to the house creak and settle around me as I read. I like my house, like the old oak floors, the heavy doors with glass door knobs, the thick leaded glass window panes. I even like my old toilets with the pull down ropes as flushers. I like my kitchen cabinets with their design right out of the 1940's, the sleigh bed that is over a hundred years old. The claw foot bathtub and the heavy marbled floor in the bathrooms. We have odd looking modern furniture here and there, a Danish leather chair, a big shower with beveled glass doors, modern japanese styled plates and bowls. My lone Picasso and Pollock, the buttery soft brown leather sofa with the madras print throw.

I love walking in the back door and coming into my home, pulling open the heavy door and seeing the gleaming wood floors. I love the way the morning sun slants into the rooms, making rectangles of yellow spilling all over. I have several crystal rocks hanging in the windows and in the afternoon, they work as prisms, settling rainbows loose on the floor to confound Socks and please us.

What I love most is sitting curled up in a chair with my book and a cup of lemon tea. Maybe an almond cookie or a crunchy apple. Even a snow storm can't make me melancholy because the house feels cozy and warm.

I will go read my book now, listening to the Ellen Degeneres show in the background, Bing hooting at a joke of hers now and then, Liv working on a children's suduko puzzle while Socks tries to decide which one of us to settle in with. Probably Liv. He likes her the best and she remembers to scratch his ears just so.

This long holiday weekend will be busy, I want to go see this. Liv has a basketball game. I will go to the game and fret when she gets the ball because she tends to travel and I will try not to shout out, but end up yelling out softly, "Liv! Remember to dribble the ball, sweetie! REMEMBER TO DRIBBLE!" and therefore take my place in her memories as the mama who embarrassed her at her basketball games. She will ask me in the car on the way home to please not coach her while she plays and I will promise to try to stop. We will stop for ice cream or hot cocoa and she will forgive me.

And then we will head home to the crock pot with Bing's black bean soup in it and those crusty french rolls that we love. The Amazing Race will have it's season premiere.

And there we will be all together in our happy old house with the old oak floors, the glass door knobs and my books sitting and waiting patiently for me.

Have a good weekend, y'all....