Snow in Aiken

This was taken at 6:15 PM.

The snow had started falling around 3:30 PM, and it is still coming down. Fast.

But it's dark outside, so Bailey and I are in trying to get warm again.

View from my kitchen window.

Any weather is soccer weather!

Snow bunny.

Snow bird.

We're supposed to get about 3 more inches, and then it is all supposed to melt tomorrow.

It's been a really exciting week for me, Etsy-wise.

I've had 3 sales in the past 2 weeks!

And I just realized, as I was grabbing the pics for this post, that each sale was from a different medium, so that is pretty cool, in my book.

This pair of cold connections copper earrings, with loads of beaded embellishment, sold yesterday.

The buyer is a great lady who I actually met 2 years ago at the William Holland Lapidary School when we both happened to take the same class - so it's a pretty small world, after all. We had e-mailed each other a couple of times after that class, talking about our mutual Etsy shops, but this it was the first time I'd heard from her in about 2 years (or more), so that is pretty neat.

This wire-wrapped pendant sold over the past weekend. I also made the dichroic glass cabochon, so that's like 2 jewelry-making mediums wrapped up in one. Pun unintended, but apropos.

This beadwoven spiral sold right before Christmas - it features a gorgeous handmade lampwork starfish (certainly not handmade by me, however - lampworking is one area I do not claim world-domination in, lol)

Bailey and I did not encounter any snow when we were up in the mountains 2 weeks ago, but we are actually supposed to get some snow HERE tonight (but not much) - but he and I will get up extra early tomorrow just in case, so we can play if anything does fall and accumulate.

Hope everyone is having a great New Year!

The Blizzard of Aught-9

So, as I said yesterday, there was a 60% chance of snow overnight, and I planned to get up early, as these events tend to not stick around too long in this area.


And I actually DID manage to get up a little earlier - around 7:30, and I headed outside in my bathrobe with Bailey, and look what I saw:


The snowflakes were as big as Bailey's soccer ball!


OMG!


Be afraid, people - be very afraid!

Well, OK - this is what I really saw: a light, extremely light, dusting of snow, and some scattered flurries blowing around.


The sun had just come up, and while this truly is an usual sight for this area, there was so little accumulation that Bailey didn't even notice it.



But our crack emergency preparedness teams did - and they actually cancelled school for the day, and many other scheduled activities. Good grief.


There was less than 1/8 inch accumulation on the ground, by my estimation, and absolutely no accumulation on roadways.


And it wasn't snowing even anymore.


And by the time I left for work at 9:15, what little bit HAD accumulated, was gone.


What a freakin' fantastic snow day those kids must have had!


But my super-cool camera has this really neat feature - let me show you!



It has one setting where if you press the shutter button once, it will take 2 consecutive, almost simultaneous shots - one in natural light, and then one with flash.


So this is the first shot I took of my deck -- natural light.....





And this is the shot immediately afterward, with flash -


It makes it look like nighttime - and look how those snowflakes pop!






This is a picture of a tree that blew down in my yard about 6 weeks ago, that I am too broke to have hauled away....





And this is the same shot a nanosecond later -



I just think this camera feature is the coolest thing ever.



Of course, I don't get out much, either.





So this picture shows the massive snow accumulation in Aiken that led to school closings and public panic.





And believe it or not, the local TV station I am watching right now is running promos for their lead story @ 11PM: "How Your Friends and Neighbors Handled the Snow, Tonight at 11".


Seriously.


Seriously?


What snow - there was ZERO accumulation in Augusta, less than 1/8" here in Aiken, and it was all gone by 9 AM, other than some off-and-on flurries up until about 2 PM. Flurries, people - that is not snow, nor is it something that needs to be "handled".



And yes, WJBF, I am talking to you.



And yes, this is my fourth blog post in four days - surely this must be one of the signs of the Apocalypse.

Yesterday's Wire-Wrap Class

So, we had a great, great wire-wrapping class at my bead shop yesterday.

The class was supposed to be an earring class, and this was the

first pair we made:

This is my pair - it's a mixture of sterling silver and gold fill - the circle is silver, the curved dangles are gold, and the beaded dangle has a mixture of gold and silver beads.

This is the pair made by another student - she also mixed sterling and gold-fill, but she twisted the sterling for her circle, which looks great!

This is a really versatile pattern, and a lot of fun, and pretty easy, so I look forward to having some free time (HA!) and making a few more pairs.

This is a bracelet I made in one of our wire-wrapping classes last fall. I love this bracelet - it is also a mixture of sterling and gold-fill. I love it's simplicity, and it is so comfortable, and I wear it almost everyday.

So, we (I) decided that the second pair of earrings we would feature in yesterday's class would be a pair to match this bracelet.

This is how they looked early on in the process.

And this is my finished pair.

Perfect match for my bracelet!

And because I have such a fabulous wire-wrapping teacher (thanks, Daniel!) I had convinced and cajoled him into also teaching the matching ring yesterday, so this is my finished ring:

None of my projects from yesterday have been tumbled yet, so they will look even better once I tumble them tomorrow.

I don't know why I continue to be amazed that all these things look so great and match so well - that's the whole point of the classes, after all... but I'm still so thrilled and surprised when my new projects turn out.

And I am grateful that I have found such a talented and patient wire-wrapping teacher for the shop - everyone always learns a lot, and has a great time, and is so thrilled with their projects!

It is actually supposed to, maybe, snow here tonight.

60% chance.

That's about a 61% more chance than usual - the last time it snowed here was about 10 years ago. We actually got 3 inches that time, and it stayed around for a few hours. It just warms up so quickly here in the afternoon, that any snow we ever get, never lasts.

I think it has snowed here twice since I moved here in 1989.

Of course, dogs love the snow, and I wish/hope that there will be some snow when I get up in the morning, so I can go out with Bailey and enjoy it. Instead of getting up at my usual

8:45, I am going to set the alarm for earlier, just in case. Because I have to leave the house by 9:20 to get to the shop in time to open by 10AM.

Why can't it almost maybe snow on my day off - which is today???

I moved away from Indiana because I hated the snow and the cold (and a bunch of other Hoosier-related stuff), but I wouldn't mind one snow day every year or so!

And I have blogged 3 days in a row now, which I think is one of the signs of the Apocalypse, though I could be wrong.