Blizzards

Nothing like a good blizzard, especially in March!  Growing up here I was used to missing a few days of school now and then, but a real blizzard was rare.  I can vaguely remember the Blizzard of '66; my recollection is helped along by photos of me playing in the snow.  Our street in Syracuse was always one of the last to be plowed out.  I certainly didn't care back then.  We had mounds of snow to play in and Thornden Park behind our house for sledding.  And no school for days!

The Blizzard of '93 we missed.  Alex and I left Skaneateles and went to Saratoga, figuring it would be fun to be snowed in there with friends for a few days.  It was - I loved the huge snow tunnels through the roads.  It felt like I imagined Colorado mountain towns to be in the winter, or Switzerland.  But when we got home we had three feet of snow in the driveway.  I never had anyone plow.  We lived on a corner where the wind blew the snow away, and besides, Alex and I both knew well how to wield a shovel.  We waded in to the house, got a shovel, and started digging.  Within  a couple minutes the shovel broke!  We couldn't leave the car in the road, so we drove to a friend's house to get another shovel.  And we shoveled enough to get the car off the street.  Not a good plan to be away....

When I lived in Seattle there was virtually no snow for the seven years I was there.  It's changed now - climate change - and they have several inches a year, I hear.  About the fifth year there 8 inches fell during the day.  People abandoned cars and walked.  Schools closed for two days.  My friends then were from states that experienced real winters, like Illinois, North Dakota and Ohio.  We would sit and dream about snow sparkling under the lights at night.  But I really didn't think then I would ever come back to Syracuse winters.

But here I am.  This is actually an old photo from February of 2010.  You can see Bob and Boo going over the berm to explore our back acreage.  Boo loved the snow; it energized him.  Boss loves it too - bounding through it from footprint to footprint.

Later I'll put on snowshoes and make a trail for him....I've learned to like the exercise and being outside, cross-country skiing, bringing in wood.  Not what I imagined as a kid, but good and solid.  Home.