Man-Shoulders

Would be what I am developing from shoveling this weekend. I spent probably three and a half hours moving snow from one place to another. I wish I lived near someone who thought women shouldn't have to shovel and would do the shoveling for me but I guess you've got to take the good with the bad in the feminism department.

In other McPolack news, big thanks to Little Brother for driving in terrible weather to NH so we could all enjoy opening, and then fighting over, everyone else's crap in our first-ever White Elephant Yankee Swap. The gift that was fought over the most came from Babcia's house. As is true with many items of that special provenance, this one is hard to describe. But basically it is a life-size brass snake standing on its curled tail. Apparently someone was going to turn it into a lamp "one day." But then, whoops, someone died. That house was F-U-L-L of things that were going to be other things "one day." Anyhoo, when I first saw the snake my heart broke a little because I remember it really well. It sat at the base of the stairs in the front hall, gathering dust. I imagined I would have it one day.

But then I employed my special Buddhist muscle and let my attachment to it go. It now has a new home somehwhere in cousin Al's house, having moved from the Polish to the Irish side of the family, and hopefully it will do more in its new space than gather dust.