Live Blogging the Blizzard: Clean Up

New Englanders are as enthusiastic and dedicated to snow removal as they are to leaf removal, both of which happen usually before the last flake or leaf fall. In my mind, both mar the natural beauty of the autumnal or winter landscape. But snow and leaves, apparently, inhibit Yankee determinedness for efficient business-as-usual, perhaps a holdover from their Puritan forebears' ideals about conquering the wilderness. And even though most of us now in New England don't descend from the Mayflower passengers or even the 19th-century Connecticut Yankee, it's hard not to get caught up in the competitive clean-up spirit. Besides, it's business-as-usual tomorrow which means the ability to get out of the driveway to get to work. So Mama is outside with the snowblower, performing the first pass in the snow, as the flurries halt and the sun even seems to peak out (we are never this diligent about leaves). The snow is over, but the fun is not. We'll go out again when Mama's done.