The snow is taking a break today and giving the rain a chance, but I managed to get some shots of a snowy Houghton before that happened. Well, technically that's Hancock in the photo below, and that tree in the way is Houghton. 

Here's a shot taken from the hill our house is on. 

Here is the road to doughnuts.  

Most Saturdays I walk to the bakery and stare at the canal. 

But now the bike path has been covered in snow, and taken over by snowmobiles. We're thinking I need one for the commute to school.

Last weekend, when Joe went hunting, I had a grading marathon, which is not so bad when you've got this view from the public library:

 

 And it's even better when this comes home at the end.

A few more days and we'll be making the trip downstate!

Snow Day

We got a bit of snow last night. 

And today we woke up to a snow day, which was well-timed since we have friends from out of town. 

We put on our boots and hats and walked through the snowy streets to breakfast. Then we spent the afternoon inside warming up over board games. 

The snow is still falling. 

Yesterday morning was a beautiful 25-degree walk to school.

This weekend has already kept its promise for snow, blowing in as a gray cloud over the canal and, an hour later, changing its mind and reverting to rain.

I collected 126 essays to grade this week, and Joe will be out in the woods, so we will definitely keep busy. 

Weekend Went By

By the looks of my latte, the barista at 5th and Elm coffee shop must know how I feel about Houghton...

about espresso and a book on Sunday mornings...

...about fall and snow...

...about Joe doing the dishes in our delightfully green kitchen. 

Halloween 2

Now that Halloween's over, I'm spending the weekend cleaning up all of the fake hair and strips of stray fabric that are scattered throughout the house. 

Since two of my classes (one Thursday and one Friday) wanted to dress up, I decided I would make two different costumes--probably not something I'll do ever again. 

Here's yesterday's (Beetlejuice in the wedding scene): 

You can see we got some snow.

The costume was pretty labor intensive since I couldn't find anything I needed in the thrift stores. The suit had to be dyed, the ruffled tux shirt didn't actually have ruffles on it when I bought it, and it was only a short sleeve shirt, so I had to move the cuffs and put some ruffles on them too. The shoes had to be painted white, and my wig, originally a black mullet wig, had to get a serious haircut and paint job. The wig should have been blonder and thinner, but at a certain point, I guess you have to stop being such a perfectionist and go to bed.

My students had some neat costumes. The winner: one guy who shaved a giant bald spot in the back of his head so he had a ring of hair. Talk about dedication.

Joe's been in the woods during mornings and late afternoons for the past few days, so he hasn't had a reason to dress up. Hopefully next year he'll get to try out the idea he had been talking up all month.