Winter Wonderland

We measured 12" of snow on our deck this weekend -- the conifers looked so pretty all outlined in white with the fake red berries I had attached to their limbs poking out here and there -- I especially love the way Central Park looks in the snow -- Fifth Avenue running up alongside with sparse traffic moving very slowly along it and all the usual city sounds are muffled by the snow and all the bare tree branches are covered on top with a layer of snow about 1" thick that just outlines their silhouttes in subtle splendour...

I went Christmas shopping in the blizzard on Saturday -- not content with staying home and roasting my toes by the televised fire -- I went to the Soho Apple store and gawked at all of the prices on Microsoft software that has made Bill Gates too stinking rich for his own darn good -- and then I looked over at Photoshop and nearly fainted at the $600 price tag -- seeing as how I was considering buying my first legal copy until I realized what it is that makes software piracy so attractive ... but then I looked down at the scaled-down version of Photoshop Elements and decided I liked the $100 price tag much better -- the sales guy said it only made a diff. if I plan on editing video or animation, which I don't, so I bought it and then rewarded myself for being so financially savvy by making my way over to Fauchon on Park Avenue for some fancy Parisian chocolates which were , yummmm, so good they make Godiva look like wax chocolate by comparison ... I bought all the girls in our families small boxes of chocolates there and then headed over to Home Depot to buy gift certificates for the guys... I made it home finally covered in snow and laden down with boxes and spent 4 hours scrambling around like a maniac wrapping presents, making pretty little bows in the beginning, and toward the end settling for tissue paper and gift bags as the hours wore on...

Ah, what a relief, Christmas shopping is all done and now I can focus on creating more botanic gardens classes -- they've increased my number of classes from 10 to 20 since the last class was sold out and got really good reviews ... excellent news, now I've got to actually come up with the course materials I promised. Should keep me very busy this winter ... Ciao bellas, good luck with the shopping and stay warm!