Better late than never!

It took until winter is only three weeks from being officially behind us, but we got our snowstorm. What you see in the picture is just about what I'm still looking at through the window, except the sun's higher now, so we have a bright gray sky now instead of dark gray. The snow continues to fall, and the sounds of people digging out are all around. I guess I'll be doing that, too, at some point today, but I may as well let the snow end first. Anyway, I doubt if I'll be venturing out in the car.

We went to the "The Reader" yesterday. It had been sort of a sleeper on my radar, I guess because it didn't get as much media attention as the other important films of the season, "Milk" and "Doubt." I'd heard about Kate Winslet's performance, but didn't really know anything about the movie. It's about a teenage boy who finds himself in an affair with a woman 21 years his senior in 1960s Germany; the woman turns out to have worked for the SS during WW 2, and the story infolds from there. The entire cast is excellent, including (especially) the actor who plays the boy, Michael, and Ralph Fiennes, who plays Michael as an adult. It's psychologically compelling, uses silence eloquently--a mark of consummate acting and directing skills. Do yourself a favor and see it. It's already on my list of all-time favorites.

Today will be spent taking care of some business. The loan we're trying to finalize in order to move on with real estate plans is ready to go but for one thing: the bank can't get anybody in the HR office of Steve's company to return a call to confirm his employment. I've got an idea: can they use email as an initial contact to set up a call? If so, I want to get that set up.

Later, we will have a phone meeting with one of the builders in North Carolina who has submitted an estimate. The cost is still too high, (lower than the first) but this guy comes highly recommended by all the locals who know him, and he is very approachable. His will be a good brain to pick.

Aside from the movie, work finally got started on the kitchen this weekend, and Steve says the drywall is going faster than he thought it would. Once the kitchen is done, that'll be it for the inside. As soon as the weather clears and the temperature gets back into the consistent 40s, I'm going to start painting the front porch. This place may still be on the market by the end of this month!