Snow Report

You probably know by now (except perhaps Lambeth, my friend in England) that we're facing a huge snow storm on Tuesday and Wednesday.  Blizzard warnings are in effect and predictions are for 12-24".  I've got enough food to eat for days, with or without power.  I'm expecting the kids won't have school on Tuesday or Wednesday.  We'll see.

Sis in her gear

In other news, on Saturday morning when we woke to 14F temperatures, Mama decided to take Sis skiing!!  Mama herself hadn't skied in 30 years; Sis had never been.  But they went to a nearby place and had a wonderful day.  Sis took beginner's lessons in the morning but, because of her speedskating ability, only spent a few minutes on the bunny slope before being moved to the green and then the blue paths!  Apparently, she's really good.  And Mama didn't break her back--and could even get up on Sunday morning.

Bud on the slopes

Which is when they went back, taking Bud with them!!  Sis skied green all day by herself, while Bud took lessons and Mama later skied with him on the smaller hills.  He had fun, too.  I think Sis and Bud even skied together.

I think there will definitely be more skiing, though not for me.  I have memories of one disastrous ski trip as a teen.  A quick morning lesson during which I could barely stand still or upright--I had no control over the skis--and yet the instructors still took me on the mountain on the lift and promptly abandoned me.  I skied down by myself, though I'm pretty sure you can't call it skiing.  I ran into a child, who wasn't hurt, and a tree, before taking off my skis and walking the rest of the way down.  It sucked.  I think I ended up walking in town the rest of the afternoon.   I don't think I'll be trying that ever again.

On the ski lift together

But I'm glad my kiddos love it.  And I'm so glad Mama had the gumption to give it a try--she loved it!  So, our plan is to go back to Vermont to ski next year and I'll sit in a nice cozy lodge by the fire and crochet, just like I like.  But I'll love watching them all ski.

And we'll all love the snow days this week.

Winter Fun: Blizzard Photos

Yesterday

Today

Winter Fun: We're Having a Blizzard

Yep, it's been snowing and blowing since 7 a.m., dropping upwards of 12" on us, though it's hard to tell with all of the drifting.

We skipped ice skating, kung fu, and haircuts (cancelled yesterday.)

Instead, Sis and Bud went sledding with the neighbor girl and then made a snowfort, which they stocked with snowballs for later.  Then, all cold and damp, they all came inside to share snow ice cream and hot chocolate.  Later, Bud built Legos.  Sis read a book and then read another book.  Mama played "Spit" with Sis and "Blink" with Bud.  I doodled and crocheted a new hat (with yarn that I ordered just yesterday and was amazingly delivered during the blizzard!  I would have specified, "No need to deliver during natural disasters.")  The kids played Minecraft.  Mama napped.  We all petted the various cats (Mr. P continues to recover.)  We had eggs and Irish bacon with toast and marmalade, then tortilla soup and quesadillas and finally mini Victoria spongecakes while we watched "The Great British Bake Off." We called Gommie, Ma and Gong, and wished Lambeth a happy birthday.  I took some pictures and looked at everybody else's on FB.

Tomorrow, it should be sunny and we'll get some great snow photos.  But, for now, here are some taken, mostly, from the safety and warmth of inside.  The last two, contrasting night and day, are my favorites.

First Snow 2016

Storm Jonas, or Snowmageddon 2016, or whatever you want to call it, is bearing down on the Eastern  Seaboard and Mid-Atlantic states as I type.  It's been snowing in DC for hours now and apparently it has started in NYC.  I don't think it'll get here til after midnight--I won't really be watching for it.

There have been some fun memes floating around--the maps with forecasts of how many wine bottles/books/skeins of yarn you'll need to get through the storm, the "Be Like Bob" bits ("Bob won't post about the snow.  He knows people have windows.  Bob is smart.  Be Like Bob."), the open letter from the Bangor, ME police department, and various funny articles like cliches weather forecasters swear never to use again.  Plus tons of serious articles about forecasts and preparedness and such.

I've written my own posts in years past about snow--things to do with the kids (and here) and how to prep if you're unfamiliar with snow.  The kids are older now so we're not exactly making obstacle courses with painters tape; they have puzzles (a 1000-piece Pixar ones), games (the dominoes and checkers Gommie and Pop played), books, movies, Lego kits (two Star Wars), and of course videogames (always Minecraft, sometimes Dimensions)--longer more sophisticated ones than they did when they were 3-years old.  I have yarn and Zentangle supplies; Mama is finishing a puzzle.  And of course, there is the snow.  The kids will have snowball fights and build snowpeople; they've already put out the bowls for snow ice cream.   Maybe they can go sledding on Sunday (because we've cleared the whole weekend, due to snow and cat.)  I have makings for hot chocolate and popcorn, as tradition requires.  I imagine we'll have some soup, maybe some biscuits.  There will be a lot of cat petting.

All of which is to say, we're looking forward to this storm, our first for the year.  We don't need 2' for it to be special; 6" is just enough.  In fact, recent reports of 12-15" aren't ideal, but our snow blower is working and we have all the necessary supplies should we lose power or the ability to leave the house.

Stay tuned for snow photos!

Blizzard Day

Today . . . .

• Bud had a fever and spent much of the time napping . . . 
• except when he was building a Lego (The Tower of Orthanc) from the Magic Trunk;
• Sis also had a Lego (the Corsairs' ship from LOTR);
• but she also spent a ton of time outside with the neighbor girl across the street sledding down neighbor's yard, working on yesterday's fort, building a tunnel in the snowbank, making snowballs, drinking homemade hot chocolate, playing with the other kids from the cul de sac;
• we watched Guardians of the Galaxy, again (we watched it and Maleficent the last couple of nights);
• Bud and Mama played Infinity, then Sis and Mama played Infinity;
• I crocheted using the Crazy Stitch a blanket for the downstairs cats;
• I snuggled with Patron, who slept behind my knees on the couch;
• Mama cleared the driveway and sidewalk with snowblower and cleared off our cars;
• I made chicken stock from yesterday's baked chicken and then made chicken noodle soup;
• we all nibbled on yesterday's ANZAC biscuits (which are delicious but too spread out--something went wonky with the recipe; I'll post it later);
• we talked to Gommie about her injection (for her newly-diagnosed spinal stenosis; it went very well) and then about Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit, which she is studying up on to be ready for her visit in two weeks;
• and we're slowly getting ready to resume a somewhat limited schedule tomorrow--Sis will go to school (which is delayed two hours) and Bud will be home with me trying to get better; only Mama will do her usual work thing.

So, a pretty good blizzard for us.  Besides if there had been a ton more snow, Mama would have had a lot more work and we probably would've gotten stir crazy from more days in the house.  This was just about perfect.

Hibernation

We're all home safe and ready for the storm.  Fully stocked and prepped, we have arts and crafts, movies, Legos, games, and such.  We're actually looking forward to all the accumulation, anywhere from one to two feet, but not to the wind which might gust above 70 mph.  School has been canceled for tomorrow and, eventually I'm guessing, for Wednesday.  I'll keep you posted, unless we lose power.

Goodbye, Blizzard!

The sun is out; the snow is diminishing.  And most of all, the kids are back in school.  For me, the blizzard is over, even if a lot of snow lingers, with more expected tomorrow (2-4"  I'll believe it when I see it.)

So, I leave you with this snow sculpture which the kids excitedly made in a snow bank created by the plows.  They were thrilled to know that Miss K and her daughter M noticed it and even identified it without being told.  Can you?

It's a Giraffe!

Blizzard: Our First Outing

For the first time since Thursday, we were able to get out of our house, off our street, and into the great, wider world.

Which meant a trip to the store!

Actually, the very first trip this morning was to the clinic because Mama was on her fourth day of feeling rather miserable--headache, congestion, and, yesterday, a fever.  Yes, she officially has Flu B.

So, when she returned, I went with a neighbor, Miss K, and the kids to the store to fill her prescriptions, as well as pick up some more food, a couple of household items (I don't want to risk running out of toilet paper!), and a few distractions.  This was wonderful in several ways:  Mama got to rest; I didn't have to drive on the single lane snowy roads; and Miss K, whose road was still not plowed, got to get out to the store, too.  And the kids got new Legos! We even had lunch out, a nice treat for me especially after cooking the last 13 straight meals.  How often had I ever actually prepared breakfast, lunch, and dinner everyday for 4 1/2 days?!?  No sack lunches, no take-out, no skipping breakfast.  Again, I wouldn't have made a great pioneer woman (in the 19th century or even here in the 21st.)

Better yet, while we were out, the town plowed Miss K's road!

But the town is still a mess and school has been canceled again tomorrow.  The friendly plow driver told us that it will probably be Friday before we have school, so that crews can finish all the streets on Wednesday and then clear the schools on Thursday.  I'll believe it when I see it.  But I'm in no rush.  We're having a pretty good time.

The only down side is the real vitriol that is developing in town about the inefficiency in clearing the roads (and ill-informed statements by the mayor that town is clear) and the bad timing of winter break next week (which cannot be switched with snow days this week for a variety of logistical reasons).  There is a serious lack of patience and compassion, a real lack of communication and information, and a plethora of name-calling and mud-slinging.  People desperately don't like to lose control in their lives and there is nothing like an historic blizzard and 36" of snow to take away some of your power; it's getting ugly.  I'm trying to take things as they come, even if it means Sis and Bud won't go to school three weeks straight, excluding the weeks they both missed for the flu.

I type a good game, but it was definitely nice to get out of the house and have another adult lead the kids around the store while I did my shopping.  I was getting a mite snippish myself.  But an afternoon of quiet Lego building and reading has done wonders and I'm ready to face the days off this week and next.

And the snow is still pretty.  And pretty amazing.

Blizzard: We have Street!

A bulldozer came though this morning and cleared a single, messy path down our street (but not any of its offshoots), making very quick work of it and disappearing again.  Then Mama spent more than an hour in the driving rain clearing the pile at the end of the driveway.  All of which is to say we are connected to the outside world again!  We don't plan on going out at all--it's a narrow and not very clean path--but it's good to know an ambulance or firetruck could get through.  No doubt the plows will be back in a few days to widen the road and clear out the side streets, which means more snow blowing for Mama.  Best snow blower ever!

Otherwise, with all the rain, the snow is making snow fog and it's getting increasingly blurry outside.  It's too messy to play so we're inside with games, puzzles, crocheting, tv, and still enough food so that we don't have to venture out.  All in all, doing very well.  But then, after months (almost years) housebound, I don't get cabin fever as quickly as others.

The "cleared" road.

Our driveway connected to the outside world!

Blizzard: Pathways

Blessed are the pathmakers

Neighborhood lore has it that the above pathway to the main street in town was made late last night by a man with a flight to Costa Rica today!  It has been quite a lifeline.  One neighbor made it to a convenience store and could report that no roads were plowed between here and there.  Another neighbor came home this afternoon, trudging up the path, after being stuck at work for three days.  And now there are several arteries joining it, from around the corner and up the street plus all the little avenues connecting people's driveways to it.  I dug our connection myself--the snow is light and the kids had tromped a path already; then our neighbor blew it wider and smoother for me.  Thus I spent all morning talking to friends and neighbors who, glad to get out of the house and into the sunshine, were walking back and forth on our little icy highway.  Sure, a few people forsook the path, having their own snowshoes and cross country skies, but most of us stuck to the path and congregated at intersections to chat and compare notes--how long would school be closed (two more days at least), was it true that town was out of diesel for the plows (apparently a FB rumor), how close was the nearest plowed street, and did the convenience store still have milk and eggs (no but they have Funyons!).  We even used the pathway to exchange milk, eggs, and onions!

The kids played nearby, digging ice caves in the snow (the man down the street had been an Army ranger and advised them on how to build an ice cave, leaving a lot of room at the top because this is crumbly snow) and sledding down our embankment into our driveway.  They later played chase and threw snowballs with friends through the pathways.  Now they've headed up the street via the path all the way to their babysitters to sled so more and maybe play Minecraft.  No worries about cars . . . or snow plows!  And it is so quiet with no traffic anywhere.  Just the sound of neighbors chatting up and down the snow paths.  

I know that the plows will come eventually, or more precisely the frontloaders, and will obliterate our little lifeline.  Sure, I'll be glad to know we can be reached by emergency vehicles and be able to get to stores and school eventually.  But for now, I like the snowy labyrinth of connections our neighbors have built.

Blizzard: Day is Done

We came inside around 3:30 ish, after Mama cleared most of the driveway, some of the cars, and a bit of the walk to the mailbox, but none of the long sidewalk.  The kids had crawled on cars, dug tunnels in snow banks, and explored the backyard, getting stuck trying to circle the house.  Hot chocolate, deep dish oatmeal cookies, and King Cake warmed us all back up.  I napped while the kids and Mama had a Poke-marathon upstairs.  They're finishing up and I'm making cornbread to go with leftover vegetable-tortellini soup.

Outside, the wind is bitter and beginning to howl; the trees have been defrocked of their snow.  It was already getting chilly at 3:30, as the shadows grew longer and the sun began to dip.  Where the driveway was cleared is dry, but snow surrounds it high on four sides--highest on the street end where no plow even thought of coming through.  Public Works, while working around the clock, says it could be 24-48 more hours.  I'm going to say Tuesday or Wednesday before school opens, because, in addition to clearing roads and sidewalks and parking lots, they'll have to think of clearing 3' of snow off all of those flat school roofs.  And I think it's supposed to rain Monday, so we'll raise things up in our basement while also clearing channels outside for the water to flow through the snow.  Heaven help us if it freezes after that.

All in all it was a good but strange day.  Time had almost no meaning.  I think we ate lunch twice!  I followed updates of friends on FB, with stories, pictures, and information about town plows; all of us so isolated and yet so very connected in this modern world.  I couldn't have predicted, waking up at 6 a.m. and being unable to see out our second-story bedroom windows that Mama could've gotten us out the door much less all over the driveway by late afternoon.  I admit to a bit of a panic attack seeing all that snow piled up and feeling stuck, stuck, stuck. I remember stories of Pa Ingalls needing to tethering himself to the house with a rope to find the barn safely; that's if he could even open the door!  I know that even houses with fireplaces (if you could find the wood in the snow!) were barely above freezing because of the poor heat conservation.  No wonder those women on the prairie went crazy.   I practically danced on the black asphalt as it was revealed!  I'm not as hardy as a pioneer, or most New Englanders.  But still I love the snow and am rather excited to be living through an historic blizzard.  And I thought the 1996 one in NYC was big!  (Well, it was--5th Avenue devoid of cars, listening to thundersnow while staying with Gommie and Aunt Banana at the Waldor-Astoria, trekking through drifts to get to my apartment on W. 44th St.)  Our town is right up there with the 38" record accumulation of the storm so far.  And what do inches matter when you measure drifts in feet?

Church is cancelled tomorrow; we couldn't get out even if it weren't.  We were supposed to go to NYC today to celebrate Chinese New Year with Ma, Gong, and Goo, who were thankfully spared the brunt of this after the devastation they suffered three months or so ago with Hurricane Sandy.  I doubt we'll be able to go tomorrow, which is sad especially for Mama and her folks.  The kids will be happy to celebrate whenever we do.

And tomorrow there will still be tons, quite literally, of snow to play in.

Blizzard: The Sky is Falling

We are watching the weather, not on tv, but outside our window.  It is illuminated by the streetlight on the edge of our yard.  We cannot see the houses across the street, not even their mailboxes.  A few times we have been unable to see the streetlight's glow or even the branches of the tree right outside our window.

Unaccountably, I'm thinking of sand, of deserts during sandstorms, or of the stream of sand in an hourglass, or of sediment swirling in water.  Or of black clouds of swarming bees.  Or locusts.  Or dark sooty smoke from a big fire.  The snow is black, not white, in this light. The air is solid.  The sky's ceiling is right above our streetlamp.  It is claustrophobic.  And it is all yellow, the hue cast by the electric light against the surrounding snow.  This is not pretty, majestic gentle snowglobe snow but almost a living, breathing, powerful and possibly destructive entity.  The way it moves, up and down, sideways, and back upon itself which such silent force is serpentine. Watching it almost gives me vertigo, like an IMAX moving flying around.  Oddly, we can't hear the wind.  And no snow is hitting our room because we face south and the wind is from the north.  It's eerie.

And beautiful.  But not in a peaceful way.  Awesome, as in inspiring awe.  Terrific (well, not quite yet creating terror).  To use an art history term from Romanticism, it truly is Sublime.

Blizzard: 10 Inches

We've got 10".  Mama just measured.  And 12 hours more to go.

Blizzard: First Pass

With kids in bed and storm winds picking up (no thunder snow yet, even though we're in the dense purple bands on the radar), Mama has joined several of our neighbors in pulling out the snow blowers and taking a first pass at the driveway.  Thankfully, we have a new, powerful, self-propelled, tall blower that is eating through the 1' drifts in the driveway with ease.  And while we know it will accumulate overnight, it's important to get it started in case we got so much that our blower would have trouble clearing it tomorrow.  That would be no fun.

Oh, hell, the lights just blinked.  Please, oh please, don't let the power, or the heat, go out.  Let's just hope that was something else.  But considering the heavy, wet snow and the winds, I know many of my fellow Nutmeggers and New Englanders will be without power after this.  Selfishly, I just don't want to be one of them.

Blizzard: Blue Out!

We can't see to the end of the cul-de-sac, nor the fence of the neighbor a couple of yards down.  The Blowing snow has created a blue light, rendering the entire outdoors in a bluish grisaille--shades of whites, blacks, and light blue.  It's beautiful.

Blizzard: Darkening Skies

The sky is a darker gray; the snow is coming in sheets. The tree limbs are thickly covered and reaching for the ground. Visibility is decreasing.  It definitely feels like the storm is picking up intensity.

But we are still cozy inside.  Sis and I made a very decadent dessert, Deep Dish Oatmeal Chocolate Cookie Bars--with 2 cups of brown sugar, 2+ sticks of butter, and a whole can of sweetened condensed milk!  While they cooled--usually we would eat them straightaway, but the recipe warned that the filling would ooze--we all watched some of Fantasia, with the Nutcracker Suite, the Sorcerer's Apprentice, the dying dinosaurs.  And I fell sound asleep.

Now we're downstairs, making vegetable soup (and later cornbread) and working on the puzzle.  And watching the snow that still falls.  It never changed to rain.  It's been snowing some 9 hours straight now.  And the most is yet to come!

-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Deep Dish Oatmeal Chocolate Cookie Bars
We thought there was too much chocolate filling, so below I have halved the recipe from the original.



2 sticks butter
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 cups brown sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
1/3 cup milk
3 cups oatmeal

Mix the butter, eggs and brown sugar.  Add vanilla and milk.  Slowly incorporate the rest of the dry ingredients.  Mix well.  I prefer using a stand mixer since it's quite thick.

In a saucepan over medium heat melt together:

1/2 can sweetened condensed milk
3 tablespoons butter
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (typically one bag)

Then, spread 3/4 of the cookie mixture on the bottom of a greased 9x13 pan, pour chocolate mixture, then spread rest of cookie mixture on tops in spoonfuls (won't cover completely-but will leave cool designs.  Next time, we might do a 1/2 and 1/2 split of cookie batter). The top can tend to get done before it's completely cooked, so you can put aluminum foil over it for the last ten or so if it looks like it's browning too much. Bake for 25 minutes at 350 degrees (it took ours closer to 40 minutes and a teeny bit of the middle still isn't totally cooked). Let cool, otherwise it won't set up and will just run when you cut into it.

Blizzard: Still Snowing

It's been snowing since I posted this morning, leaving about 2" plus behind, enough to level the Belgian block lining the driveway.  I hadn't expected this much snow until tonight and the rain mentioned in the forecast hasn't materialized, but it's only 1 p.m. so there is time for all of that.

It's beautiful outside and cozy inside.  There's a nice blanket of white on everything, which our dear backyard squirrel is surveying from his or her own comfy home in the knot of our big tree; Mama took a picture with her special camera which I might manage to download someday.  The kids are doing a 1000 piece puzzle with Mama, who was at work for a few hours this morning before they sent everyone home.  The kids have done some dramatic play with their penguin and bunny contingent, played outside including making thin driveway snow angels, played Minecraft on the iPod (with credits earned from being outside in the snow), and compile the valentines for their whole class--Sis had Hello Kitty with a notepad for girls and Phineas and Ferb with eraser for boys plus Kit Kats for all, while Bud had Clone Wars with mini glow sticks and also Starbursts for everyone.  No one liked my idea of hand-making cards, alas.  I've participated in these activities, made roasted chickpeas, helped Sis make a nice coffee cake for breakfast, and been reading my current downstairs book, Bill Bryson's At Home, a history of domestic spaces (upstairs, I'm ignoring a parenting book!).

We finished a foraging lunch--leftover Chinese from their outing last night, chicken sandwiches, mujadara plus hummus and chickpea salad for me--and are about to a). watch Fantasia, b). keep working on the puzzle, or c). have Mama play another computer game with the kids.

And it just keeps snowing.

Getting Ready

For those of you not getting the minute-by-minute updates of Storm Nemo (!) here in the Northeast, we are preparing for a storm of blizzard proportions.  Overly dramatic forecasts mention 20" of snow and 60 mph winds and 6' drifts.  But even if we get half of that, it will be an impressive storm.

So, with practice these last few years for Irene, Sandy, and other storms, we're getting ready.  We have all the batteries and flashlights, but if power goes out, illumination isn't our biggest problem--it's the loss of heat. Yes, we have oil tanks but they need the electric heater to warm the water for the radiators.  Knock on wood, we've never lost power in a snowstorm.  If I had to guess, I think we could stay in the house in freezing temperatures 24-48 hours before it became really or even dangerously uncomfortable.  But I'm not sure.  (Suggestions to stay warm without heat include:  stay only in 1-2 rooms which are well insulated at windows and doors with extra towels or blankets; lots of blankets; wear a hat at all times plus extra socks and layers; kids can sleep in little tents/forts to conserve heat; move regularly to get blood going; don't get damp or wet--change immediately if you do)

We have snow shovels, ice melt, and our big self-propelled snow blower that clears almost 2'.  Later today, I'll walk around outside to remove any projectiles that might alight in 60 mph winds.

And I just went to the store for food, both dry goods in case of power outage and several meals options:  vegetable soup, winter vegetable stew, chicken pot pie, Mexican feast (w/cheese quesadillas, tacos, maybe chili), Polish feast (pierogi, bigos, Breton beans), cavatelli or tortellini carbonara, chocolate chip cookies (or something), homemade granola, homemade bread or cornbread, rice pudding, lentil something or other (ooh, mujadara!), plus various chips/pretzels, dry cereal, dried fruits and nuts, cheese and crackers, sandwich makings--the possibilities are pretty endless.

I'm guessing there will be, at the least, an early dismissal from school tomorrow as the snow piles up; they might just cancel.  For the kids, we have valentines to make for school and family, plus all the toys in the house, arts and craft supplies,games and puzzles, etc etc etc.  Besides, such huge amounts of snow are their own entertainment--snowmen, snow angels, snow forts, snowball fights, sledding, snow painting.

And yes, I got two cans of sweetened condensed milk for our traditional snow ice cream.

For my Northeastern friends, what are you doing to prepare?