Many feel that today was a historic day. Inspired by the Women’s March on Washington, women and their allies in every US state, 60 countries and on seven continents (Yes, even Antarctica had a march) stood up for their rights. There were 616 marches spanning the globe, from India, to Ireland to Iowa, with an attendance that quite possibly surpassed 2 million people.

The women of the Lake Tahoe Basin marched with a Proclamation:

We walk with our partners, families and friends in unity with our sisters across the United State, to ensure our rights, our safety, our health and our community.  We recognize that in our vibrant and diverse communities lie our strength and the strength of our country.  This march is a first step in uniting our community and moving forward to a more hopeful future.  We stand together to recommit to our Constitutional values recognizing that we defend all people in our community and country.  We work peacefully while recognizing there is no true peace without justice and equality for all.

Ours was meant to be nonpartisan- one of unification and hopefulness and for the most part, that is what I witnessed.

Talking about storms here is getting rather repetitive. Steve and I walked to our favorite spot for lunch, Sprouts, between the weather phenomenon called "Winter".

The berm to Steve's right is what the entire place would be covered in had we not stayed on top of things with the snowblower. Yikes.
Every street in our neighborhood is lined with huge piles of snow making all the two lane streets so narrow, only one car can go through at a time. There simply isn't anywhere to put all the snow.

Believe it or not, through those trees is the Lake.



What a beautiful place to remember how amazing Lake Tahoe is.

After a delightful pre-party at Chris and Jan's, we headed out, during a fortuitous lull in the storms, to Lake Tahoe Community College's Art Reception.

This was an opportunity for us to meet the artists behind the work, as we strolled through three different galleries. Our first stop was visiting with Claudia Garza, a plein air painter who captures local scenes with beautiful colors and intimate brush strokes.
Next, we delighted in the submissions by the Tahoe Art League members. This watercolor, by Robert Schimmel called Florentine Window was one of my favorites. I know Robert. We took this photo to send to him and then moments later, we saw him and got to praise his work in person. Fun stuff.
The final stop was to see various art presented by faculty members from Humboldt State's Art Department. Awesome artist, Phyllis Shafer gave a wonderful lecture on how to fully appreciate the art before us.

This dog is actually embroidered onto wood. It was a unique technique.
Phyllis asked the group to share a piece that they loved. I volunteered my appreciation for Elyse by Keith Schneider. This work is all ceramic and I found the whimsy of it to be pretty irresistible.
From Mr. Schneider's website, "I am most interested in things that  “wear” their history: torn and yellowed scraps of paper, old wooden toys, discarded pencils with labels worn, used shell casings, obsolete maps . . . each of these objects, or fragments of them, has a presence that compels me to collect them and use them in my work.  The life story that each object could tell remains a mystery, but the hint of its past adds another layer of richness, even when drawn over or partially obscured by paint."
And he continues, "In my more recent ceramic work, I have used clay “fabric” to dress up my characters and clay tape and stitching to hold them together.   Since facial expression is so important in defining the personality of each of my figures, using wrinkles, tears and holes in the clay fabric has opened up new and exciting options for achieving this."

I absolutely love this piece, his motivations and the feeling that it all evokes. My goodness, it's all clay. What talent!

Casey, Bill and I left in the dark to be one of the first shoppers to our new Smart & Final Extra! Store.

Headquartered in Los Angeles, where the Company began over 145 years ago, Smart & Final Stores, Inc. operates more than 300 grocery and foodservice stores. Throughout its evolution, it has remained committed to adapting to the changing needs of the neighborhoods it serves, most notably through its 2008 introduction of Smart & Final Extra! stores. Uniquely positioned to offer time- and money-savings for both household and business customers, these include expanded fresh and frozen products, organic and natural products, bulk foods, oven-roasted chicken and many other items sold in convenient sizes.

I could not have picked better people to go with than Casey and Bill. They both are grocers and really know their stuff. We meandered up and down all the aisle and these guys were oohing and aahing the entire time. They were also in the know about pricing, which I loved. And we were given Don Francisco's coffee while we waited for the doors to open. I loved that, too.


The store, located in the old Staples building, was laid out well and had something for everyone. It even had 50 pound bags of popcorn. Crazy.
I loved the velvet ropes indicating check out.
Who knew getting up in the dark to go grocery shopping would be so much fun? I guess we did! This will be a store we will return to and now were ready for the next round of storms arriving tonight. Thankfully, Steve is now home and I can pass my snowblowing duties on to him. It's a very good day in Tahoe.

Karen and I headed to Carson City, NV to have a fun day of shopping and dining before picking up our friend, Bob, from the Reno Airport. The view, as we dropped over the hill, was spectacular. Everyone was pulling over to stop. One man said, "I have lived here practically my entire life and I have never seen this before!" The entire valley was enveloped in the most beautiful, low-lying cloud. The photos do not do it justice.

For those who don't live in snow country, if one is not a skier, snowshoeing is the most fun way to get exercise. And everywhere to do it in Tahoe is breathtakingly beautiful. Jan and I ventured out for a couple of hours of much needed Vitamin N [Nature] before the next round of storms arrives.

Fifteen of us gathered to shake off our cabin fever together. What a fun day with some fun people.