Exploring Moscow

Anne's birthday turned out to be a free day for me to explore Moscow.  Weather advisories led Anne to believe it would be a snow day.  NaDa.  Enough snow fell for Duane to get out and shovel the sidewalks and driveway.  I surprised Anne with a little sign of spring sitting on her table.

Anne gave me her old IPhone when she got a new one in November, but I haven't used the data plan so my first stop of the day was AT&T at the mall.  The sales people are well trained and Kevin tried his best to convince me I needed a phone with a data plan.  I used a typical retiree's comment of being on fixed income and my budget doesn't have room for another $20/month.  I'm perfectly happy with my old PAETEC phone and it's text message capabilities.  Anyway I have my IPAD for travel and searching when I'm away from home.  How many searching devices does one need anyway?  

My next stop - WINCO!  Wow, I just wandered down each aisle and noticed the great prices.  Anne and Duane sometimes come to Lewiston just to shop at Costco, which is great if you like to store the big packages of stuff you buy there.  But, for me, WINCO might be a better bargain.  I loved the aisles with bulk items - everything from flour to valentine candy.  I bought nine little bags of goodness to make some granola for Anne's birthday.

The granola has cashews, pumpkin and sunflower seeds, almonds, flaxseed, Oat bran, wheat germ, coconut, dried mango and cranberries!  Very healthy!!!

I wandered around the Mall looking for spring clothing colors - lots of yellow and tangerine!  I think one of my favorites, navy blue, might be popular this Spring I season.  Maybe with some dots....
Then I had roasted tomato garlic basil soup at the Co-op topped off with Almond-Apricot cookies.

I could not resist the gorgeous snow so I unpacked my new snow shoes and headed out to Idler's Rest.

The parking lot had not been plowed so I drove a little further up the road and found a place to park and struggled for 20 minutes getting the snowshoes on my feet.  I started walking down the icy road and realized they were on backwards!  Oh no.  As fate would have it the mail was being delivered to the country homes along this road.  The mail lady opened her window and said, "did you get those snow shoes from Costco?"  The neon green must've given them away.

I told her I thought they were on backwards and she got out of the truck and helped me get them on the right way.  "I love these straps because they are so easy!"  And I agreed once she showed me how to put them on.   Wow, what a difference!   I did make it up the Idler's rest trail, far enough to enjoy the meadow!  But I finally decided I didn't know if I was walking on a trail or ground hiding boulders and uneven surfaces that might cause me to fall into a snow bank!  

 I love trees covered with snow!  And the peaceful silence of a winter day!  It was lovely but I got quite warm and realized I must've worked up quite a sweat, so I headed back to town and saw a glorious sky!

A sky like this reminds me that God's light permeates our world even amidst the clouds of darkness!