Снег!

That's the Russian word for snow (pronounced 'sneg') and not a reference to an aging icon of American pop. Before anyone fires any emails to me asking what I am talking about, just look at the letters and think long legs and raspy voice. Anyway, the снег has started to fall here in Moscow and it is starting to feel like winter. It has snowed at least a little each of the past seven days, but we really don't have much snow on the ground because we had a nice rain storm on Saturday that melted everything up to that point.

Everyone that we have talked to here in Moscow states that the past two winters have been very mild with very little snow. Interestingly enough, my first trip here was for New Years 2002 and there was more than a little snow during that winter. So much so that our flight to Volgograd, where Olga's relatives live, was cancelled because of 'bad weather'. While we certainly were getting quite a bit of snow here in Moscow that evening we were told that it was crystal clear in Volgograd and planes landed all evening. Nice, especially since we sat in the airport and/or on a plane for 14 hours that day (and that does not include the overnight flight that we took). But I digress. It snowed nearly everyone of the 17 days I was here that first trip and I'm not talking little flurries. We'll see how it goes this winter, but I am fully prepared with my new Ugg boots and Spider ski coat!

Looking out our front window into the parking area/'yard'. Hopefully you can see the снег.