Buried and Alive...

First I have to admit that I plagiarized today's title. I stole it from Magda's facebook. She had this awesome picture of Cambridge blanketed in snow with the caption, "Buried (and) alive." I just thought it was so clever and fitting for our snow day yesterday that it deserved to be repeated via another social media outlet. I could go into a whole theological spiel about how that same phrase could be applied to my spiritual life. Burying myself to be made alive in Christ, etc. But, I'm not prepared for a deep dissertation at this point. So I will just say, thank you Magda for being ultra creative. Hope you don't mind my borrowing!

Let's get up to speed. First, The Artist. I thoroughly enjoyed this film. It was everything I love about old movies without trying so hard that it became one giant cliché. The dog (Uggie) stole the show on more than one occasion. I'm not entirely sure what the moral of the story was...maybe something like, "Don't forget the people who helped you get to where you are today." Or "Fame fades, but friendship lasts forever." Either way, it was a touching escape from reality. The fact that there was little dialogue didn't inhibit the story one bit. I found it to be an endearing use of a couple hours on a Saturday afternoon. Probably the best line of the afternoon didn't even come from the movie script. I was cracking up when exiting the theater because I heard this stodgy, crusty old man turn to his wife and say, "If I had known what that was going to be, I would have stayed home." It took everything in me not to laugh out loud. What a Scrooge.

By the time Asha and I left Art's Picture House, it was full on snowing! Big juicy flakes swirling about, starting to gain momentum. You could tell that it was actually going to stick this time. And stick it did! When we woke up yesterday morning (to the sound of children screaming and laughing with delight) and looked out our windows, we probably had a good 4 or 5 inches. We got dressed in our warmest snow gear (thank goodness I packed my rain boots) and left to walk around town and capture the winter beauty before it melted away. On our way out of our housing complex, these pre-teen boys were having a snowball fight in the yard. One of them rolled up some ammunition, grinned mischievously and aimed at Matthew menacingly, then asked, "Can I?" Meaning, "Can I be a little twerp and throw this at your face from 8 feet away?" I smiled when Matthew calmly responded, "I wouldn't recommend it." Priceless. He is going to be a good dad. Intimidating and demanding respect, but not too scary. Needless to say, the boy chucked his frozen vessel of pain at his friend and not at my husband, which was probably a wise decision on his part. 

For the next hour and a half, we roamed all over taking pictures, trying to savor every second of the gorgeousness. I'm so glad we got one snow during our time in Cambridge. I would have been so disappointed to leave without experiencing the chilling, white grandeur for myself.

I couldn't resist turning a lot of these black and white or sepia. Something about snow makes me feel like it deserves to be as white as possible; thus, I possess this undeniable urge to contrast it within a monochromatic color scheme.

Bikes are such a part of life in Cambridge, so to see them utterly out of commission just reenforced to me how snow brings everything to a standstill. Literally.

Rustic gate, lively shrubbery, cottage backdrop. Yes, please.

Gosh. Matt got sick of me saying this but, it's beautiful!

Orange berries?

"This is the land of Narnia, where we are now; all that lies between the lamp-post and the great castle of Cair Paravel on the eastern sea." -The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. You had to know that the comparison would be inevitable.

How do my pokey hairs always strike at the most inopportune moments?

Yes, Matthew, we are redoing this picture so my hair doesn't look stupid. I am that vain. Now try and look happy. Close enough.

Only in Cambridge (and maybe Oxford...and Hogwarts, of course) can some dude be walking around town in what looks like a cape, and it's no big deal.

The views from the backs were stunning.

Mathematical Bridge looks cooler than usual in this weather. No pun intended.

No punting today?

Wait, what's this? Punters! No passengers, but I guess someone has to break the ice. Sorry, that wasn't punny. (It's okay to groan. That was the last one for now.)

Were we unknowingly teleported to Hogsmeade and The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studies Islands of Adventure? Nope. Just Trinity Lane.

Definitely living up to its namesake. I think I audibly sighed when I saw it. And gasped. Fantastic.

Ahhh.

Remember the Scrooge at the movies? Well, the college porters may be even more Scrooge-like on the weekends. They are not friendly or accommodating in the least. They guard their entrance like Bullitt guards his rawhide bone, growling and all. Maybe they aren't that bad, but they definitely don't make exceptions and allow admittance. Even if you say please and just want to take pictures. PS - Why are those doors two drastically different colors? I haven't the slightest.

Take that, you grumpy old men! Rules should NOT apply on a snow day anyway. You can see in the background that countless giant snowpeople were being erected everywhere. Along with enormous snow boulders that were a good 6 feet in diameter. The students were having a heyday rolling them into the frozen river just to see the splash. I took the opportunity to run diagonally across the grass as many times as possible.

If only I had the key.

And our photography journey came to an end when we left through St. John's gate.

After that, it was back to Wolfson Court for another brunch date. I fear we may turn into bacon and eggs before this term is over, but it's just so darn cheap and yummy and involves no preparation or cleanup! We were joined by Alberto, Harsh, Asha, and Magda. I cannot tell you how much it warmed my heart to spend some quality time with our pals. 

I should have picked a better backdrop. Nice fire exit sign and prison bars. Oh well.

We hurried back to our flat because Tesco was scheduled to deliver our groceries. Two hours later, no groceries, and no phone call. Oh, they cancelled the order without telling us. So we are having to get creative with what we have in our pantry in order to come up with meals until Wednesday afternoon's rescheduled delivery. But, at least we have food, and it was only a minor inconvenience. Gotta look at the positives and recognize how blessed we are. No right to complain.

Sadly, at this point, most of the snow is seeping its way into the ground. It will probably disappear entirely within the next 24 hours. I'm grateful for the time I got to spend with it. In somewhat related to weather news, the sun is staying up much longer these days! It's almost 4:30pm now, and it's still bright out. Sunset is around 5:00pm, but it keeps getting later and later every afternoon. Makes me optimistic that I will make it through winter in England. And finally, I hope all you red-blooded Americans enjoyed watching the Super Bowl last night. Matthew and I have caught up on the commercials and the halftime performance thanks to YouTube. I can't say that I wish we had watched it in real time, but I do feel a twinge of nostalgia thinking about the awesome snacks I missed out on. I'm sure my waistline is better off for not having indulged. Have a wonderful week! And, happy early birthday to my little sister, Jordan! She turns 20 tomorrow. Yay!!!