The near-blizzard snowstorm over the weekend left city streets a mess, with gigantic piles of snow at intersections so tall that it’s hard for someone in a compact car to see oncoming traffic.

But I just stopped off at Starbucks for a misto to keep me going through a meeting in the early evening and then uploading a conference paper draft by the midnight EST deadline. And look at how pretty the trees surrounding the Slice of Ice skating rink at Red Arrow Park are now!  I’ve seen artificially-flocked natural Christmas trees before, but never a naturally-flocked artificial Christmas tree like this one 🙂