OLIVIA IN NC

january in the south

{Thank goodness for birthdays that keep me blogging, eh? Eventually I will attempt a blog catch-up marathon because our Southern holidays deserve a little recognition. In the meantime, you can read my catch-up marathon on pregnancy here if you like.}

On 1/11/11,
we woke to a world dipped in ice...

Ice is like glass. It's clear. So maybe you can't see it, but look close, because it's awesome.

View out the window—the ice weighed down the bamboo and all of the sudden we could see the pond and road on the other side!

...or what most people call an ice storm.
Schools were canceled. Including Ben's university. I know.

* I was fascinated. *

Maybe the woodpecker was fascinated too?

In the afternoon, I decided to "venture" out to the post office.

But the car needed to be freed from its shell of glass first.

This is where I turned into a little kid—
was it just because it was my first time experiencing this,
or was it because this glass-like ice really is that fun?



Either way, I knew my siblings would love it as much as I did.
So I took videos for them. You can see them too, even if you're not my sibling.

*let the record show that this is my first ever attempt at creating a video. thank you.

Even the next day was fun. Sun was out. All the bare trees were sparkling because it was still cold enough that they were all magical glass-dipped trees...

Each pine needle had its own sheath of ice... and the grass in the yard was a riot to crunch through... Even with puffy feet.

Another riot: walking under the giant Magnolia tree out front; it would occasionally shed the glass sheets off the leaves and they'd crash to the ground. Some even stayed intact... little leaf-shaped pieces of ice all over... Almost like Fall all over again?

Still loving NC seasons...
But can I just add that Ben and I could not believe our eyes that night when we got to the mall to do some birthday shopping... and it was CLOSED at 6:30. Well, it was open somehow, but every store inside was closed. Empty parking lot. Weird, yes?

Yes. Fun weird.