Beginning a week ago Thursday, the local TV stations began warning us about a Polar Vortex that was going to descend on Huntsville and drop the temperature into single digits along with 3 inches of snow beginning early Tuesday morning. The weather people got more and more insistent over the weekend, and by Monday the usual reaction took hold. Schools, banks, and nail salons announced Tuesday closures. Even garbage collection was suspended. The military on Redstone Arsenal announced that their day would start 2 hours later. Huntsville Utilities closed their office, and aren't they responsible for keeping the roads clear?

So Tuesday morning I got up, got dressed, and ran outside to take this picture of our house covered with snow. If you look closely, you can see a little of the white stuff on the edges of our roof. Once again, no snow. I decided to post the picture anyhow. I do feel for the rest of the country where the Polar Vortex did bring a lot of snow and cold and misery. If you were caught up in that frigid weather, I hope things are looking up this weekend.

Last Friday was our grandson Ian's 20th birthday. Our phone call caught him out shopping with his friends, but that didn't keep us from singing the birthday song. He called us back on Sunday for a much longer talk. This past Thursday our step-grandson Noa celebrated his 16th birthday. So HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Ian and Noa. By the way, this is a picture of Ian taken some time ago.

Last night Nancy and I attended a concert presented by the Shanghai Opera Symphony Orchestra. We didn't know what to expect, but were pleasantly surprised to see that they planned to play a Tchaikovsky violin concerto...one of our favorites. It was well worth the effort.