Record Snowfall in Columbia, South Carolina

(Above: Mouse House in the snow! Click on any photo to enlarge.)

During the run of Blues Chapel and Last Words, my solo exhibition at Gallery 80808/Vista Studios, Columbia experienced a record snowfall. Of course I had warning that it was coming. Steve, after all, has an undergraduate degree in some sort of meteorology. He taught both our sons to consult The Weather Channel every morning before dressing for the day. I've always laughed about this obsession....saying, "Yes, we will have weather today." Since my "day job" at Mouse House is on the first floor of our house, I've always figured that if I "dressed wrong"....I'd just go back upstairs and change.

Anyway, severe weather has always been a cause for great excitement for Steve.....and Friday, February 12 was a banner evening. I had planned to have Blues Chapel and Last Words open until midnight but everything comes to a total stand still in Columbia when there is just a threat of snow. I closed at 7 PM with the "white stuff" coming down hard.

Meanwhile, all of Columbia seemed to have cleared grocery store aisles of all bread and water....stocking up to be snowbound. At home, Steve fixed a steak dinner with red wine after walking the neighborhood.....much better plan.

In the morning, Steve was out with a yardstick measuring snow accumulation at various points throughout the yard. Average: 6 inches. Steve made a snowman. It lasted for three or four days even though the rest of the snow was gone by Sunday.

Please don't think we really "torture" Shadow, our beloved cat. We know she's much to dumb to remember any of this....and she does provide the perfect contrast for all these pictures!

So, above, is Shadow trying out the hammock.
(She didn't like it!)

She preferred being under the hammock....for a short while....

She did make some interesting paw prints.....

...before hiding under a snowy bush. She never did find the back door. I had to pick her up to bring her back inside!

Above is the hammock before Steve and Shadow touched it. Further back is our snow covered pond. (All the goldfish did live through this adventure. I am referring to the live ones under the ice, not the red, metal sculptural ones above ground.....made by Mike Williams, a wildly talented painter who also works in metal.)

(Above: Pond with Mike Williams' red metal fish. Below: Our backyard, view from pond across parking lot to house.)

We did have a small mishap due to the weight of the snow. The umbrella on our patio furniture was up. Snow weighs a lot. Shortly after I took the photo below, the umbrella went down...

...crashing through the glass table top. Fortunately, we have another one lined up. Our neighbor is moving in the spring time. She said we could have hers....she's not taking it with her to Asheville.

So, above, is the front of our house. It looks BEAUTIFUL in the snow. The large magnolia on the right looked like this....

....and the columns looked like this....