"Under fifteen feet of pure white snow"

There is a lot of snow here in Boston. A lot. Just looking out our windows, we can see snow in drifts a few feet high. And we've had to clear drifts of more than a foot off of a couple of our windowsills so that we could see out.
I'm not relishing trying to get to work tomorrow, but for now, it's not bad at all. All the snow is actually quite pretty. Our apartment is toasty warm and I've got plenty of tea and hot chocolate. And I have Other Kenjari's wonderful company. We don't have to go anywhere and we don't have a car to shovel out. Allston is peacefully quiet. After I finished practicing piano, I could hear some of the other musicians who live in the building practicing, too. I've lived in New England all my life, so I guess I'm kind of comfortable with the blizzard.
I remember the blizzard of '78, and it is the source of my favorite winter memory. I was about three or four. We didn't live near any good sledding hills, but once the snow stopped and things got shoveled out somewhat, my Dad bundled my sister and I up and put us on a sled - one of those old-fashioned wooden sleds with metal runners. Dad attached a lead rope to it. He then ran (literally ran) around the neighborhood dragging the sled. It was great. The snow was piled up so high on either side of the sidewalks that it was like sledding through a snow tunnel. My sister and I loved it.

Book Review

Mozart: His Character, His Work
by Alfred Einstein

This book is neither a simple biography of Mozart, nor an intensive analysis of his music. It's a little bit of both.
The first parts of the book, in which the author discusses Mozart the person and the key influences on his psychological development, are unfortunately hampered by some outdated notions (the book was written in the 1940s). Einstein is clearly operating under the influence of the "Great Man" view of music history. He is obviously quite convinced that Mozart was a genius of nigh-unearthly proportions and sometimes goes to ridiculous lengths to support this idea. Einstein even tries to use Mozart's mundane human failings (a lack of aptitude for managing the household finances, occasional bouts of childishness, etc) as evidence of his great genius.
Einstein is at his best when he's discussing Mozart's music. Although he occasionally indulges in overly rhapsodic praise of a piece under discussion, Einstein offers an insightful examination of Mozart's music. Einstein also does a lot more than run through Mozart's works - he shows how they relate to each other and Mozart's overall development. And Einstein is comprehensive, covering both major and minor works.