{"id":2028,"date":"2009-12-08T04:18:33","date_gmt":"2009-12-08T09:18:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.spritewrites.net\/?p=2028"},"modified":"2009-12-08T04:18:33","modified_gmt":"2009-12-08T09:18:33","slug":"our-saturday-afternoon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.spritewrites.net\/?p=2028","title":{"rendered":"our saturday afternoon"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>On Saturday, it started snowing around 9 a.m. By the time we headed west along 66, this is what the Virginia &#8216;burbs looked like:<\/p>\n<p><center><a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/spriteshoots\/4168848560\/\" title=\"Snow along 66 by kkfea, on Flickr\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2591\/4168848560_5227dde15f.jpg\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" alt=\"Snow along 66\" \/><\/a><\/center><\/p>\n<p>Several inches of wet, sticky snow covered the ground by the time we arrived at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.creekviewtrees.com\/\">Creekview Farm<\/a> in Aldie (about an hour west of D.C.), and at least another inch fell while we were there:<\/p>\n<p><center><a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/spriteshoots\/4168849718\/\" title=\"Several Inches by kkfea, on Flickr\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2499\/4168849718_37fbb47cbd.jpg\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" alt=\"Several Inches\" \/><\/a><\/center><\/p>\n<p>It felt like we&#8217;d stepped onto a movie set. How else do you explain how perfect this scene looks for picking out the perfect Christmas tree?<\/p>\n<p><center><a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/spriteshoots\/4168087161\/\" title=\"Snowy Trees by kkfea, on Flickr\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2494\/4168087161_435dc85c7f.jpg\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" alt=\"Snowy Trees\" \/><\/a><\/center><br \/>\n<!--more--><br \/>\nRudi loves the snow. Sure, he&#8217;d rather have skis strapped to his feet, but it&#8217;s awfully hard to wield a saw while hurtling downhill at 50 mph. So he kindly agreed to just wear boots instead.<\/p>\n<p><center><a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/spriteshoots\/4168850574\/\" title=\"Perusing the Pines by kkfea, on Flickr\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2569\/4168850574_9f61e563fa.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"400\" alt=\"Perusing the Pines\" \/><\/a><\/center><\/p>\n<p>Every farm should have a dog. Creekview is no exception. This is Daisy. (I think that was her name. Rudi might have to correct me, since names are his thing&#8230;)<\/p>\n<p><center><a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/spriteshoots\/4168851638\/\" title=\"Snow Dog by kkfea, on Flickr\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2784\/4168851638_81710fde74.jpg\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" alt=\"Snow Dog\" \/><\/a><\/center><\/p>\n<p>That wasn&#8217;t a great shot of her, but it was the best I had, because most of the time she looked like this:<\/p>\n<p><center><a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/spriteshoots\/4168850898\/\" title=\"Chasing Snowballs by kkfea, on Flickr\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2764\/4168850898_0701243931.jpg\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" alt=\"Chasing Snowballs\" \/><\/a><\/center><\/p>\n<p>We encouraged her joy by throwing snowballs for her to chase. The farm dog was not the only one ready to play. The younger farm children also were ready for some post-lunch frolicking:<\/p>\n<p><center><a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/spriteshoots\/4168090615\/\" title=\"Time to Play by kkfea, on Flickr\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2594\/4168090615_ea82a54ef5.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"400\" alt=\"Time to Play\" \/><\/a><\/center><\/p>\n<p>Rudi and I walked around a bit, enjoying the brisk country air. Rudi thought Aldie&#8217;s snow smelled particularly fine:<\/p>\n<p><center><a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/spriteshoots\/4168091023\/\" title=\"That Lovely Snowy Smell by kkfea, on Flickr\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2755\/4168091023_13f147973a.jpg\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" alt=\"That Lovely Snowy Smell\" \/><\/a><\/center><\/p>\n<p>Eventually, though, we settled down to the business of picking out a tree. Really, we aren&#8217;t too picky, although Rudi usually has to remind me that our ceiling is not as tall as I&#8217;d like to think it is.<\/p>\n<p>This is the one we chose:<\/p>\n<p><center><a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/spriteshoots\/4168091551\/\" title=\"The One! by kkfea, on Flickr\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2613\/4168091551_850c1b567d.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"400\" alt=\"The One!\" \/><\/a><\/center><\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s a Norway spruce, about six and a half feet tall.<\/p>\n<p><center><a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/spriteshoots\/4168854214\/\" title=\"Rudi and Our Tree by kkfea, on Flickr\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2774\/4168854214_1c73cd206d.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"400\" alt=\"Rudi and Our Tree\" \/><\/a><\/center><\/p>\n<p>We celebrated our fine selection with a complimentary cup of hot spiced cider and a final walk amongst the snow-covered trees. We couldn&#8217;t have asked for a nicer afternoon for cutting down our Christmas tree or a nicer Virginia farm than Creekview.<\/p>\n<p>Alas, the snow has since melted, but it&#8217;s still quite a fine tree underneath its cloak of white. I&#8217;ll share its holiday finery later this week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Saturday, it started snowing around 9 a.m. By the time we headed west along 66, this is what the Virginia &#8216;burbs looked like: Several inches of wet, sticky snow covered the ground by the time we arrived at Creekview Farm in Aldie (about an hour west of D.C.), and at least another inch fell [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2028","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>our saturday afternoon - sprite writes<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.spritewrites.net\/?p=2028\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"our saturday afternoon - 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