Let it snow

We finally got winter. The snow predicted for yesterday night started early this morning, and it's been snowing since. The railings on my porch have about a foot and a half of snow, while the drifts are two feet or so. I have no idea how much has fallen, though, because it's so dry it blows easily (perfect powder, actually).

So it's become a day-out-of-time stay-at-home Sunday.

-one load of laundry done
-sinkworth of dishes washed
-sidewalk shoveled
-car dug out
-maple rice pudding made (brown rice, but no raisins: I thought the casserole might overflow)
-book in progress
-sidewalk shoveled again*
-car dug out again

And it's still snowing. I wonder if I'll get a snow day tomorrow...

And happy Tu B'Shvat! Tonight is the new year for the trees** (Jewish calendar, obviously, which is just as obviously not tuned in to New England weather cycles). Eat fruit and be merry!

* Next time, it's someone else's turn.


** There are four new years in the Jewish calendar (from the Mishnah, masechet (tractate) Rosh Hashana, perek (chapter) 1, mishna 1):

• 1 Nisan is the new year for kings (dating their reigns, rather than by individual dates of coronation) and holidays
  
• 1 Elul is the beginning of the year for tithing of animals
  
• 1 Tishrei is Rosh Hashanah (lit. "head of the year"), the new year for shmittah (the sabbatical seventh year when the land was left fallow), yovel (the jubilee year, every fiftieth year), for planting, and for vegetables
  
• 1 Shvat (Bayt Shammai)/15 Shvat (Bayt Hillel) is new year for the trees (which is relevant for young trees: the first x years (I think it's three) the fruit isn't eaten at all, then the next year it's given to the Temple, and after that, it's regular first fruit tithing each year.