Oh no, snow?

We live in a densely populated neighborhood in a big city. If you've been to our house, then you know there's not much to see outside our windows except other houses. With the exception of the restful (boring) view in front of my desk, which looks out year-round on the green wall of our 10-foot laurel hedge. But if I stand outside on the front porch and zoom in my camera, I'll occasionally get some good sunset sky shots like this one, against the backdrop of the enormous tree across the street.

It was more like a tropical sunset last night, which is interesting because we have a messy, cold forecast of rain and snow coming up for the next week. This beautiful light lasted for only a few minutes, but it transformed everything. If it was only 50 degrees warmer, it could have been Hawaii! Well, that's a big if. Watching the news, it looks like winter has finally arrived across most of the country, making it a good weekend to watch football, movies and eat pot roast.

And being grateful you didn't get dunked in the water on a luxury Italian cruise.