Exciting storm, like Sandy but with snow...nonetheless she persisted

Today was exciting, but I can report that Handsome Son is home from work safe, and with power, and I'm home, with power, after a wild day of high winds, blizzarding snow, alternating with torrential rain.  Soaking wet birds frantically at the feeder getting fuel for the weather.  My car was buried under snow then washed clear again at least twice that I observed.

And there was extra drama, of which I was unaware -- next door neighbor trying to take friend to hospital for scheduled major, six hour, surgery, found as they came out to his car, at 6.30 a.m. that it had a flat tire.  Frantic attempts to get alternate transportation, and a message on my voicemail, to borrow my car, but my phone was off.  

I switch it on when I wake, and by then they'd sorted it all.  Another neighbor got a ride to work, lent him her car. I got in touch with him, and instructed him never again to wait, just to come in, he knows  where the key is, and take the car keys.  Told him where to find them, and he agreed that in the next emergency he will do so.    Can't think how his friend felt, hard enough to anticipate surgery, without finding this sort of obstacle, with shrieking winds and rain at that point.

Sooo, waiting to hear how she did.

Meanwhile back at the ranch, after a major battle with this computer, partially sorted, but watermarking didn't take at all, and there are other screen display issues, resulting in trying to post blind, big blank white rectangle squarely on top of the place where commands happen...managed to upload pix of the really good scones I baked today, as a kind of displacement activity, to stay calm in what was a huge storm.  

Many outages of power, live wire on roads, roads closed, flooding, cars conking out because their electronics failed in even fairly shallow water.  Wondering if my old cherry tree will survive, but that's minor compared to the people.  Neighbors safely home from work, I see lights on.

Anyway, I went back to the Solo recipe book, whose writer now follows me on Twitter, evidently quite chuffed about my bean soup blogpost, and this time made what she calls biscuits, but I know as scones.

 First time I made the real thing, since there are a few processes to go through, rubbing butter into flour, etc., and for this one I had to mince rosemary (my own homegrown, on the twigs in the freezer, heavenly scent as it thawed) and cube butter and cheese.  But, so worth it.  Flaky, lovely. And it made more than the number she suggested.  I used a small glass to cut them, don't have a cookie cutter.

She recommends peach compote, but I didn't have peaches, and did have apples in the freezer, and that, since there was cheddar  cheese, made a good combo. See the lovely blue bowl in the background waiting to be filled.

You can peel off the little skirts of cheese if you want to be more fancy. 

 And here's an afternoon tea fit for a queen! Probably better than what they get at Buckingham Palace, I hear she eats cornflakes for breakfast, clutches pearls..

There are now half a dozen, scones, not cornflakes, in an airtight container in the fridge, and another half dozen in the freezer, for the next lucky invitee to afternoon tea.