Ice.  It's wonderful in July when the temps are high and you need a refreshingly cold drink.  It's wonderful when you fall down and injure a joint and need to keep the swelling down.

It is not wonderful when you are trying to drive to the train station and get on a train that travels on the outside of the bridge on a thin rail (without a real side rail) to get to work.

We got a winter storm of "mixed precipitation" last night.  It started as snow around 9.  It was snowing hard and soon the streets and cars were covered with about an inch and a half of snow.  Then the "mixed" part started and it sleeted and then rained.  If the temps were just a few degrees either way, it would have kept snowing or just rained and melted everything.  Ah, but last night, we were balanced on the edge and the rain fell as a liquid and froze everywhere it landed. 

This is truly beautiful to look at.  Trees look crystalline and everything shines.  It is also a colossal pain in the ass.  Pk made sure to put melt down last night so the steps wouldn't freeze but it didn't make any difference.  He went out this morning and had to pry open the car doors which were covered with a layer of ice.  He started the car to warm it somewhat so he could scrape the wet ice off. 

When I get off the train in Philadelphia, I have to walk about a block and a half to my building.  Not a bad walk usually.  This morning was an adventure.  No one had shovelled or sanded or salted or anything and the sidewalk was an ice rink.  I tried to walk where there was still some snow underneath (I really like the crunching sound I make walking on crunchy snow) and made it in without mishap.

The rain is supposed to keep up on and off all day but the temps should rise just enough to stop the freezing.  It's just ugly. 

But here's a pretty.  It's the swatch I finished for the In Dreams kal.

The color is warm and blocking the swatch made a lovely, drapey fabric which has a soft sheen (from the silk) and a slight halo (that would be the alpaca).  It's more beading than I have ever done and I am approaching this with some excitement.  I liked the beaded edging of the evenstar but that was only a bit of beading.  This is a fully beaded piece and I have a feeling I'll be working on it until the end of time.  This small bit (and the photo on the right is about full sized) took 3 hours.  It takes time to put those beads on your stitches. I couldn't get the beads I originally wanted, when I went back to the website to order them, they didn't have the color anymore.  Fortunately, I found these and I like the way they look.  They're actually cranberry lined with gold accents.  (and of course they're tiny and I will find them for the rest of my days in every crevice in my house).

I expect a lot of folks to cancel their appointments today.  We have a fair number of people who have physical disabilities as well as mental ones and it's probably safer if they stay off the streets/sidewalks until they're cleared.

Have an exceptional Tuesday (and if you're in the northeastern US, stay safe and dry!)