Buildings and Blizzards

For those of you who live in more moderate climes, I am including a couple of photos of our house, taken just a few minutes ago. We are in the middle of a severe  blizzard with heavy winds (80-100 km/h, and severe flood warnings out for coastal areas. Fortunately, I live several hundred feet above sea level, and more than 90 km from the nearest ocean.

This is the view from our kitchen window, out towards the street; the snow is beyond the windowsill, and we have 4 steps up from the street level to the kitchen. The trunks of the apple trees are completely buried in the snow.

This is the view from my work table, in the lower level of the house; the drifts are coming from the patio and blowing up on the retaining wall. I measured the level of snow in front of the door, and at its lowest point, it is 70 cm deep (27.5"). All three house doors are currently blocked by snow, and the snow isn't over yet. Another storm is being forecast for Thursday. (The wind just shrieked so badly that the cat jumped off my lap in a panic!)

However, I have been working on the Japanese vignette; the photos below are of the sewing process for attaching the thatch to the gatehouse roof:

And here is the more or less finished product. I still have to glue the bamboo ridge beam in place, and I think it might need a bit of tying to hold it down properly. Some small angled beams will be added under both roofs to act as supports. And I may have to glue down the odd fly-away "straw" from the roof as well.

That's it for now. I can smell dinner cooking, and I desperately need something warm inside of me to take my mind off this miserable weather!