It snowed in Richmond, Virginia last week. Terry took this picture from the front porch. The snow only lasted a few hours, but suddenly it seemed a lot more like Christmas.
As you can see from the picture, leaves are still on the trees. Where Hibbing has snow, Richmond has leaves. Leaves are raked into the street or by the driveway. Then the City of Richmond sends around trucks with huge vacuums to suck up the leaves and cart them away. The next day more leaves kept on falling and the raking begins again.
Last week a city of lights festival was held at the state capitol. Governor Kaine and his wife turned on the lights for the city and held an open house. While this was going on, a crew from the Richmond Public Library and I helped host a Polar Express party at the train depot. As families walked into the Main Station, they were greated by a conductor who gave them a ticket. Then they were met by an elf who gave everyone a bell. On the upper level was Santa, hot chocolate and cookies. There were more elves singing Christmas songs and the Library crew. We elved (rather than manned) a storytelling area, a make-and-take craft area and hosted a book give away. One of the librarians brought a camel puppet, named Fred. I had the pleasure of helping Fred greet the children and parents. For the most part Fred was very well behaved. He posed for pictures, did not eat anyone's cookies and talked to the children as camels often do. He did become a bit carried away as a dancing fool, when some of the more snappy music was playing. It was a fun evening. I was told I would be invited back again next year.
