Tasty Tuesday–A New Twist on a Winter Weather Tradition

In our house, we’ve come to look forward to “French Toast Events,” days that are inspired by the “French Toast Map” the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Weatherbird used to create in the run-up to bad winter weather. You knew a winter storm was going to pack a punch if Weatherbird said you needed milk, bread, and eggs (bonus points when he added beer to the map, too). Well, Weatherbird’s latest illustrator retired last year, and while he said that he would continue drawing the character on a freelance basis, as far as I can tell, he no longer uses the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, and so I had no French Toast Map to help me decide how to plan for yesterday’s winter weather advisory. As it turned out, I think they rather underestimated this storm, because the first half of yesterday was an icy nightmare, which included cancellations all over the Bi-State, the closure of Lambert Airport for a time, and multiple accidents, including some with Metro buses and even firetrucks. Anyway, I hadn’t prepared for a full French Toast Event, but I was in a good place for a Waffle Warning, starring French Toast’s cousin, the Mickey Waffle, so we were still able to observe one of our favorite winter weather traditions, just in a new way!

Chickadee Thursday

It’s a lovely fall day today!

But just three days ago, it felt more like winter, and Chickadee was excited to make a snow angel in the first snowfall of the season!

How quickly the weather changes in the midwest…for all I know, next week, she’ll be wearing shorts!

French Toast Mode

They’re forecasting our first significant snow of the season tonight and tomorrow. Actually, they’re saying it might be one of the biggest November snowstorms in St. Louis history! In honor of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch‘s Weatherbird’s “French Toast Map” and all of the people who hit the grocery stores to purchase large quantities of milk, eggs, and bread before a storm hits, I made French toast for dinner. It’s a win-win situation…we like the snow and don’t freak out about it like so many in St. Louis do, and French toast is one of the children’s favorite special dinners!

What a Difference a Week Makes!

If I hadn’t seen and felt it for myself, there’s no way I’d believe that only a week ago there was almost a foot and a half of snow on the ground, and temperatures were about 70 degrees colder than they are now!

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It’s amazing what a lot of sunlight and a south wind can do to eliminate evidence of a winter storm. I have to admit that while I don’t miss the negative temperatures, I would have liked some of the snow to stick around a little longer, though!

What a Difference a Year Makes!

Last year, we were praying for rain. We started the year with a dry spring, and it just got worse all summer, until we were in the midst of a pretty severe drought. But the rain just wouldn’t fall.

This year is completely different so far. It seems like all it ever does is rain. Every time I think the nice weather has arrived, we have another chilly, damp, rainy day. Yes, it’s better than a drought, but it’s really just another extreme.

I’m hoping for some nice, clear days soon. Turkey would like to get out and start practicing for baseball, and Ladybug really wants to make some chalk art on the driveway. Bunny and Moose are also wanting to be outside at a playground. Until it dries out some, though, none of those activities is going to be very fun, if they’re possible at all!

Hail…And A Lot Of Rain!

It doesn’t look like much because it had already started melting, but we had enough hail this morning to make quite a racket…and make me very thankful our van was in the garage!

After the hail fell, the rain really started coming down.

This was only the first round of storms today…really hoping tonight’s forecasted severe weather isn’t too bad!

Winter? or Spring?

This has been a very confusing weekend.

It looks like winter–snow covering the trees, wintry mix falling from the sky, roads kind of slushy…

But are those flowers under the snow on this bush?

And tiny, brand new, green leaves on this tree?

And this poor, snow-covered magnolia…I don’t think magnolia flowers are used to weather liked this…

And the daffodils…they could barely hold their heads up under the weight of the snow.

Yep, I’m officially confused. On Wednesday, we were excited about the buds starting to open on our cherry tree, and at least one of my children wore shorts.

Yesterday, we broke out the winter coats again, and now we’re wondering if the trees will even finish blooming this year, or if the hard freeze will bring an end to our beautiful spring.

March weather can always be counted on to be totally weird!