The snow fell, and the wind blew, and we ended up getting about a foot and a half of snow. The wind was the real problem, roads were hard to keep clear, and so valentines day was a snow day for the girls, and so was the day following, as the snow kept blowing around. In some areas, just south of us, they got more than three feet of snow. But the sky opened up, and blue skies followed, and yesterday the temperature climbed up above freezing for the first time since the beginning of January. On Friday the girls returned for the last day of school, before vacation, and before our trip, and were delighted to at last exchange the valentines they had worked so hard on. Each carried home a packet of valentines (unlike when I was young, many of them included small sugary treats). Yesterday we went sledding, and today we are toying with the idea of ice-skating on the lake with girls.
They say that you can tell new Englanders from southerners by the way they approach snow, the night before expected snow northerners back into their driveway, and face out. And when they shovel snow, they shovel for the NEXT storm. Tomorrow we are expecting our first big “nor-easter”. On the other side of the mountains they have had an incredible amount of snow that accompanied this cold snap, it pulled moisture of the lakes, and last week, one town received ten feet of snow, we got nothing. But tomorrow, a big “Snow event” is supposed to happen. Rumors are flying of school cancellations and feet of snow. So, we did some shopping, picked up some movies, and moved wood from the pile behind the barn to the back porch. As I gathered up the wood, I came across lots of little mouse homes, and stashes of seeds. And now we wait, for the snow, to see if the weatherman’s predictions come to fruition, and click on the radio in the early morning to listen to hear the name “Beekmantown Central” to sound in alphabetical order, then the day is ours, to push around and play in the white stuff on valentines day.
These are cold nights, and as we settle into our evenings a new routine has developed. Sleeping Queens, a card game that friends introduced us to. A special deck of cards, which include “the Rose Queen” and the “Cake Queen”. The rules are simple, and the game fun. It is one of the few games that Elizabeth (now five) will agree to play. We sit in a circle in front of the woodstove, deal cards of chance as the winter howls on outside and sways the rockers back and forth on the front porch. Winter is sticking around – the temperatures have not risen out of the twenties for at last three weeks – leaving us to wonder which vehicle is ours in the school parking lot – as they are all the same color of salt grey. We are finding excuses to cook in the kitchen, as the old Chambers warms up the kitchen nicely. Yesterday we roasted two chickens, and today we made a pot pie. In the cold of winter there is a lack of smell, the outside air smells crisp and empty. To enter the house, warm and smelling of chicken and onions and crust is one of those small joys in life.
