They keep calling this a "winter storm," but it isn't even winter yet. Be that as it may, when I got up at 8:30 a.m., it sure looked and felt like winter had arrived. And, for once, the forecasters were right on target, even to when they'd predicted the blizzard would start and stop.

At 1 a.m. this morning I'd gone to the weather channel online. "Southeastern Michigan will receive between 6-10 inches/15-25 cm of snow between 4 a.m. and 4 p.m." So what did I do? Left my bedroom, went downstairs, bundled up in my warmest sweater coat, muffler and hat, and went out for a scoot...at 1:20 a.m. I knew with a storm this size, it would be awhile before I'd be out on the roads again. Our town does great snow removal, but with temps staying in the 20s F/6.6 C, it was a pretty good bet the roads would be scooter-unfriendly for at least a week. Not to mention the very real possibility we'd be getting more white stuff in the days to come. The only car I saw was a cop car--we live next door to the police station--and the officer just stopped to be sure I was OK. I told him about my wanting to take one last scoot before the storm and he seemed to understand. So I went to bed dreaming not of a white Christmas but of a plan for taking a fresh-snow self portrait for my "Falling Into Place" book project.

This morning, after my dear Eddie had busted his butt shoveling the snow off the ramp, I set up my camera with its cordless shutter release gizmo, placed it on top of four books on the chair by the side window, bundled up again, and went out into the blowing snow and shot a bunch of self portraits. It was way cool!!! Literally. Of course I cannot tell a lie. A neighbor had to come dig me out when I tried to explore beyond the confines of my plowed ramp. Thanks, Bob!