Making lemonade. Or maybe lemonade slush.

March this year was uncharacteristically snowless. I think we got a dusting, once, and I was almost tempted to accept March as a spring month. Almost.

But today April is trying to restore the balance. I woke up to several inches of snow on the ground, and it wasn't even a pretty snow - it was lumpy and drippy around the edges and prone to sloshy footprints.

Still, I tried to make the most of it. I didn't want to take Jin on a long walk because, you know. Snow. Ugh. But I put on my boots before heading to campus and took him on a short walk, and then took him over to the tennis courts to let him run loose in the new snow. He likes that, and he hasn't been able to do it for more than a month.

As he was cavorting about, I picked up a handful of snow and discovered that it was the most amazing packing snow I've experienced in Michigan. There was no one to have a snowball fight with (except Jin, of course, and when I tossed my snowball at him he barely even noticed). But I realized that I had not made a snowman in years, and decided that the best way to forget my displeasure with Mother Nature would be to make one right there on the tennis court, while my dog was busy getting his own exercise.

Here he is. The snowman, I mean.


He's not very big, maybe just a little more than knee-high. When I took Jin back home and got my camera, I also grabbed a carrot from the refrigerator, picked out the black jelly beans from my Easter candy stash (since I usually eat around them), and chose out a couple accessories to give him a little more personality for the photo shoot. The jelly beans didn't work so well - they all fell off and left a bluish smudge on the side of his face. And the carrot required an extra clump of snow to keep it in place, so the snowman's face became a bit misshapen. But for a quick, spontaneous effort, I was pretty pleased.

My attempt to tilt the camera for a more interesting angle. Sometimes it works for me, sometimes it doesn't.

A waste of black jellybeans. Look - they even fell into sort of a frowning face. But better than a waste of red jellybeans.

And the final product. I think he looks like someone, but I can't place who it is. Maybe someone can help me with that.