Snow

It's snowing today.  I love, love snow.  I guess it's because I have so many happy memories of snowstorms of the past.

One winter we were visiting my aunt and her family in upstate New York.  The pond behind her house was frozen and we children wanted to go ice skating.  There was a problem.  There were five children (I was the youngest) and only four pairs of skates.  My very resourceful aunt found some wood blocks around the house and fashioned a pair of :"skates" for me.  I was thrilled that I was able to join my brother and cousins "ice skating" on the pond.  It didn't matter that they really weren't skates, my aunt cared enough to put some pieces of wood together so that I could join the others.

Does anyone remember December 26, 1947?  The weatherman predicted snow flurries.  Well, we got about 28 inches of flurries.  That was another fun time.  Because there was a garage under our house and a community drive behind the house so that drivers could get to their garages, the snow was quickly cleared.  Our house was near the corner, so most of the snow was piled up right next to our house, giving my brother and me a huge pile of snow which we declared a fort.  We cleared an area for us to hide behind the piles of snow and were safe during our many snowball fights with the other kids on the block.  So much fun.  There was also a hill at either end of the community drive and that made for excellent sleigh riding.

Then there was the year I had planned a family reunion.  My son was coming home for Christmas, so it was a good time to get together with the family.  The snow started in the morning and continued all day as I cleaned, cooked and answered calls from family members saying they couldn't make it.  There I was, clean house, plenty of food and no party.  I called a few of my friends who live nearby and invited them to a "blizzard party", complete with food and adult beverages.  All evening, we commented on how pretty the snow was and were glad that the plows were out clearing the roads.  Then it was time to go home.  We hadn't thought that while the road was clear, the driveway wasn't.  After several unsuccessful tries to move the cars, one of my friends mentioned that since I have cats, I must have some kitty litter.  We put that under the tires of the cars and everyone was able to drive away, only to face the same problem when they reached their homes.  We still talk about that night.

There were other storms including the time we were on our way home from Catskill, NY and the state of New York closed the Thruway in Newburgh.  My husband and I were lucky enough to get the last room at the Howard Johnson where we stayed for two days playing hooky from work.

No wonder I like snow so much.  So many wonderful memories.