Some Dreams Are Just To Bizarre To Explain, Part 3

It was as real as day. I was on my way to pick up India from work. 

I never pick India up from work. She gets out not long before Ken, and about the same time as Matthew. She takes the bus to church (where Matthew is on the IT staff) and rides home with him. Or she walks to the store and Ken picks her up on his way home from the office.  Having sold my van to Matthew, I am carless right now anyway, except for the rare occasion that I use Ken's and my car. Yet there I was, picking her up from work.

Only this was different. I was driving an older SUV that I don't recognize, and cruising down an icy highway that looked like the one heading north from Utica, NY. Sort of. 

I was the second vehicle in a long line of slow moving vehicles. We were following a man who was going about 35mph as he slid on his bottom along the road. Yes. he was sitting upright and pushing himself with his hands as he slid on his butt. Doing a pretty speedy 35mph considering his mode of transportation.

As we were slowly driving, I noticed an amazing view coming into sight. We were getting closer to a hill and I could see the valley spread out in the distance. I had my tablet in the car (I never do this), so I took the tablet and starting taking photos as we moved along. The valley was getting closer while I realized I had never seen it before. I was wondering if I had taken a wrong turn. All this time the car in front never blocked the view for me.

At the top of the hill, the man scooting along the road "pulled over" to the side to let the rest of us pass. The car in front of me was no longer there and I was at the top of a very steep drop (think roller coaster). I wanted to stop but there were too may cars behind me. So over I went. The SUV picked up speed as gravity took over. Then the road abruptly curved upward, and disappeared. I mean it just ended. I kept "driving" upward into the air. 

I looked down and realized the other cars were ant-size below me, while they continued down the road. It turned out I had veered off and gotten onto a short road similar to those found on sleep inclines to stop a runaway tractor-trailer.  Only those usually have gravel to stop the truck, not a huge ramp to the sky. 

As I continued rising into the air, I was thinking "This is the last time I pick her up from work."

Then Kito whined at the bedroom door for us to let him outside....

Long Time, No Post!

Has it really been this long since I posted?  

So much has happened since I wrote here last; and I honestly thought I wouldn't be posting any time soon after my toolbar disappeared on the top of my blog today. But, alas, I discovered a way around it as soon as I posted a complaint to Google. Maybe they'll give me my shortcut back anyway. 

Anywho...

Let's see what has happened since you last saw my melodic writing. Is it possible to see melody? I suppose it would be if you were looking at sheet music. Maybe you are hearing the clickety click of my keyboard. That could be melodic. Sometimes it kind of lulls me to sleep. But then again, I may just be boring myself. 

So, Amanda is in her last year of high school. The last Sectional Football game was emotional for me since it was her last time cheering. She seemed okay but I quietly cried on the way home. We went to the Open House at the only college she had as a choice and she is hoping to get into the dance squad there. "More dance, less stunts" as she puts it. The other week she got her acceptance letter and is going to be going to college at Genesee Community College.  India is going back to Fulton-Montgomery Community College in the fall. 

As for me, I decided I had a dead-end job and went back to college last fall.  I began with Medical Office Technology until I realized that almost everyone I met in my classes were in the same program; so the job market will be mobbed when we all graduate.  I switched to Computer-Aided Design & Computer Numerical Control. I'm taking prerequisites this semester so I can, hopefully, begin taking the actual classes this fall. 

On the personal level, I am madly in love!  This love is so much deeper than any love that I have ever felt in my life.  This says a lot considering I always jump in with both feet.  This wonderful man doesn't have the control and anger issues of the others, and we are very best friends; a good thing to be going into a relationship.  There will be many major life changes for me over the next year, but I'll let y'all know as they happen. 


For now, If any of you folks are someplace warm, could you PLEASE send me some warmth?  We are absolutely freezing here!!  

Matthew, in his non-stop attempt to stay ahead of the snow.

                         

I strongly believe this weather is being caused by one of the folks from our church who has a bizarre obsession with winter and brags about doing a "Snow Dance" to bring on storms.  I am seriously considering gathering a gang of people to beat him with snow shovels and car brushes. I know many people who would be more than happy to help me at this point. 

Memories of the Blizzard of '77

It's raining.  A change from the last week when we got over two feet of snow in just four days.  My kids were excited by it since they had a day off from school. India was frustrated by it since she was stranded on the wrong side of the state from college.  Matthew had to keep snow-blowing the driveway so the build-up wouldn't get too deep for the push-behind snow-blower. I was watching the weather with much more interest.  The strong winds, the white-out conditions along with the snow falling so quickly reminded me of the biggest blizzard I have ever seen.  A blizzard that became notorious.  When the winter snow turns to blizzard conditions I always wonder, is another one coming...

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January 28th, 1977 was just another winter day.  We had several feet of snow built up from the snow that had fallen since October - when the first snowfall fell that winter, after an extremely rainy summer.  Like so many people in Northern New York State, I had just gone about my day.  

I was 13 then and in 8th grade.  It had been a long day at school and I was eager to get home but as the clock on the wall slowly ticked away, everyone was unaware of what was about to strike.  If we knew, perhaps things would have ended up differently for so many people. 

Like this winter, our temperatures so far the winter of 1976-1977 had been bitterly cold and Lake Erie had frozen over early.  Further up north, in the Lake Ontario Region, we never saw a frozen lake.  Ontario was much too deep for that. The cold was so widespread that even Miami reported snow that winter. In Lowville Academy everyone was used to the snow by now. It had snowed almost every day since Christmas. 

Down in Western New York (where I now live) Lake Erie was covered in a deep layer of powdery snow.  With the lake frozen there was little moisture in the snow and this would make driving conditions nearly impossible. Earlier that day a wall of snow, similar to the one in this photo, had made it's way across Lake Erie and was traveling across Western NY, Ontario Canada and as far south as Erie, Pennsylvania. 

School was going to be letting out in just a little while when the sky went dark.  Everyone turned toward the windows as we watched the darkness be taken over by unrelenting snow, like we had never seen before.  People crammed against the windows to watch and the announcement came over the PA system that the buses would not be running.  Only children living in town were allowed to go home and they needed to do so right away.  other children in our K-12 school of around 2000 students would be sleeping in the "Big Gym" and the school would be feeding them.  I lived the next block over from the school.  A quick 3-minute walk any other day of the year.  My walk home took me around 20 minutes that day and when I arrived home, my Mom told me that my sister's mother-in-law had called and wanted us to bring her 12th grade son to our house.  So Mom sent me back to school.  

West Port Colborne North St. Catharines,
Ontario, Canada

By then the sidewalk was gone and the mailbox marking the corner of the intersection was in the process of being buried.  After crossing the street, I had four houses and a stretch of parallel parking to get past before reaching the first door in the elementary wing of the school. I couldn't see!  The snow was coming so fast and coating my eyelashes, making my eyes too heavy to open.  My nostrils were frozen and the 49 mile an hour wind gusts were taking my breath away, making breathing almost impossible.  40 minutes later, I arrived at the breezeway door. I was frozen and had to take a few minutes to re-group so that I could walk down the hallway to the big gym. When I got there, most of the kids were gone. Other people had come and taken all but a handful to their homes.  Ken was nowhere to be found.  I finally found out that he had gone home with the high school music teacher, who lived with his wife behind the school. 

I was dreading the walk back home but I didn't have to worry. When I walked out of the gym I saw flashing lights and one of the teachers told me to go out the door where the police car was parked.  Uncle Clarence had come to get me and take me home. My Mom was worried that I hadn't come home and had called Tante Clara.  Tante Clara was my Mom's sister and she also lived in our hometown where my Dad had recently retired as Chief Deputy Sheriff. But Uncle Clarence was still the Sheriff , until his own retirement the next year.   

And you thought you had a hard time finding your car in a parking lot?

I made it home and stayed there for the next week.  Schools were closed and people were stuck in their homes, unless you were lucky enough to live in town, or had a snowmobile. 

The school buses left out were all buried. 

Western NY got relatively little snow, but the blowing snow off the lake made conditions terrible.  Northern NY was dumped on with continuous snow until January 31st, when the blizzard finally let up.  The Lake Effect Storm covered our Tug Hill Plateau with almost 100 inches of snow. 

Volunteer firemen clearing off the roof of a house in Depew, NY. 

Thankfully, we never had our electricity go out and we had the fireplace going in the den, so we could shut ourselves in there to get away from the draftiness of our old house. The windchill was well below zero.

Many people made tunnels to get into their homes.
My cousin cleared out a tunnel from the road,
up an angle and onto our front porch.
(this is not my photo)

Uncle Clarence kept us up-to-date on what was going on around the county. So we heard when Camp Drum (now Fort Drum) brought out 14 Amtrak vehicles to help.

C-130 bringing in badly needed supplies.

There were so many people stranded, and buried, in Montague and throughout the rest of "The Tug" and New York State. 

Because of the sudden onslaught of the snow, people were stranded on the roads.  We heard about a police car that was parked next to a stranded car when an Army vehicle came through and ran them both over. 

A front-end loader is trying to clear Furhmann Boulevard.
You can barely see the buried car.

29 people died during the course of the storm, including nine who were found frozen to death in their cars. Most of the deaths were in Western NY. Five lives were lost in Northern NY.

Roof collapsed by weight of snow.

Red Cross volunteers searching for  trapped people

QEW between Niagara Falls and Fort Erie

Snowmobiles became the only means of travel for those without a military track vehicle available to them. While the highway department tried to keep even a single lane open for traffic.

Miser Hill Road, Town of Rutland, Jefferson County

Of course, you had to find your car first. 

There was a full-size van under there.

When the Blizzard finally ended on January 31st, a State of Emergency was declared and traffic was banned except for essential vehicles. While the clean-up continued. 

Buffalo wasn't the only place hit by the storm - this was in Watertown, NY. Jefferson County had snowdrifts that were 'only' 18 feet high.

Rt.177 in Barnes Corners

Snow plow coming up road ...

After things calmed down, people ventured out to explore the damage. Cars were towed out of the roads in the hopes that their owners would find them. 1,900 stranded travelers in Northern NY were allowed to leave on February 1st because supplies were running out.  The dairy industry lost $8 million as a result of the storm. Northern NY is a dairy region and the farmers had to dump their milk. They also had problems getting to their barns to feed their livestock, while several barns collapsed under the heavy Lake Effect snow. 

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Rt. 11 looking south at the Rt.177 intersection maybe 200 feet away

The utility poles were almost buried. 

I thought it was so cool how we could actually walk up to the stop lights. 

I used to have the game, but lost it in a divorce.  The game was more based on Buffalo but it was still fun to reminisce while playing. 

The blizzard was such a hard thing to endure - even living in town. But what I will remember the most about this terrible time in so many lives will be the people.  Everyone cared so much about others.  Not just the many, many highway crews and military from throughout the United States who came to help us.  We were blessed to have this happen in a time when people cared for each other.  If you needed to have someone checked on, you simply called the local radio station and told them the address you needed someone to go to and a complete stranger would go there and let you know if your friend or relative was alright and give them any assistance they might need.  Neighbours would check to see if you needed anything before they would brave the storm to go downtown and pick up supplies. People in even the smallest homes filled them with stranded strangers. With the inside scoop from my Uncle we heard so many stories of people helping people. The show of compassion was often overwhelming but this is my strongest memory of the Blizzard of '77. 

This is one fear I don't think I'll ever conquer

5:45am

That's what time it is right now and I'm as close to wide awake as I can get with less than an hour and a half of sleep.

I love the weather.

Rain?

Love it!  Walking in it. Sitting on a porch watching it. The scent of it. Everything about it!

Snow?

As long as I don't have to go anywhere, I love the beauty of it.  The shimmer of the sun on the crystals.  The frozen droplets on branches. I've been known to wander around in my PJs and boots in 20 degree weather, with one of my kids chasing after me with my coat because I've gotten so heavily into taking photos of snow.

Thunderstorms?

Definitely! I remember as a child sitting on the front porch watching thunderstorms. We never worried because of the lightning rod on the church steeple across the street.  Well, once a tree behind our house was hit and lost a branch. When I lived at Kirtland AFB a tree behind my house was hit while we sat in the carport, sending bark across five lawns. More recently, lightening hit the ground between the house and barn. It grounded with the wiring 3 inches under the lawn's surface, which connected the weather station with the gauges on the barn and, in the process, took out the back-up tower it was connected to (don't worry, Matthew always backs up his back-up). Matthew had just come inside from closing car windows so that one freaked me out.  I still love sitting in the sun room watching the storms roll up. I wish I could get a photo, but I've never been able to.

Wind?

Oh God No!

I live in a draw. A dip in the ridge where the wind comes off of Lake Erie and blows on my house 6 miles inland.  Constantly.  I wake almost nightly from the sound of the wind rumbling through the trees surrounding my house, in my oasis nestled in farmland.

Tonight is a bit different. We are getting a cold front rolling in from the Midwest and it's being led by high winds.  Okay, that is almost a nightly ritual but this time it's a little different.  We have a high wind warning.  No! Really?  No need to tell me.

I woke around 2:30am to the wind, like most nights. Only tonight is different. The wind keeps rolling in and getting stronger each time. It began with a sleep-ending distant light rumble as it made it's way across the field and through the cluster of trees I live in. Followed by the rattling of the cap for the smoke stack left over from the old pellet stove that once stood in the office. I laid in bed thinking "This too shall pass." No. It didn't.

My mind has gone crazy over the last few hours. With each relentless wave of wind I have laid in my bed listening to my house. The winds have increased as I've been listening for anything abnormal. The cap is still rattling. That's good. This means no rain coming down it and into the house.  No sounds of the rolled roofing over the addition peeling off.  This is good because the boys and I would hate to lose the roof over our bedrooms. The shingles. I know they are blowing off the older part of the house.  They always do and we find them scattered throughout our five acres and into the neighbouring corn field all of the time. What about the siding? That panel on the side of the house has blown off on everyone who ever lived here. It's still unattached so, I worry about the rest of the house.

Oh God! Please don't let my house be ripped apart.

The wind. Is that just the regular wind noise?  We are on the edge of Tornado Alley.  No train sounds.  No screaming of the wind. No fire siren going off in town a mile away. Every tornado has missed us because of the ridge we sit on. Should I be so cocky about this?  What if it jumps the hill and decides to land on the house?  What if it's a mile wide like they get in the Midwest and takes out all of the five houses in that swath?  Most of my neighbours are elderly. Would they be okay?  What would we do? We're on the front of the hill with the barn  on top of the hill 300 feet behind us. We would have to get behind the barn.  And it's bitterly cold out.  If the house gets wiped out, where would we go? North East? How would the kids get to school? That's the wrong school district and a long drive to Clymer.

I can't take this!  It has to stop!

Are the cars okay?  They are broadside to the wind with the van catching the brunt of it.  What if she tips onto the Subaru?  How will we get to church? Church. I was going to ride in early with Matthew but I haven't had any sleep and he stays for over four hours.  I have to stay home and try to sleep.  I don't want him taking the interstate. Subie will just be tossed around by these winds.  He needs to take the back way as long as there is no snow.  If it doesn't start snowing until after he gets home then we don't have to worry about Pennsylvania and their lack of snow removal. He'll have to pick up groceries for me, since I do my shopping on Sundays while I'm in town.

For the love of God, would it just stop!?

The house has been here for 113 years, I know she can take this. But she been beaten by the wind for so long, maybe she is too tired to anymore.  Was that the house shaking?  No. She can't be. She's firmly embedded onto the basement. It must have been Miss Purrty giving herself a bath on my bed.

Oh God!  Another gust.

Is she shaking? Miss Purrty ran off so that must have been the wind shaking the house.  Why is she shaking?  She shouldn't be shaking. According to the weather, our gusts are supposed to be 58+ miles per hour.  Damaging winds.  Well isn't that just ducky.

Jerome hasn't slept well since the custody battle and sleeps in my bed most nights.  I want to go downstairs. I can't take this anymore and I really think I'm going to go crazy.  But what if the roof gets ripped off while I'm downstairs?  Who'll rescue Jerome? Who'll rescue all of the kids? Six kids. What was I thinking that I can rescue all of them? Oh come-on. It isn't like they are babies. All I have to do is holler and they'll run out the door.  To where?  It's so cold out and the barn is so far away. The cars? They aren't safe in this wind.  Am I going around in circles on my panicking?  What about the pets?  Who do I rescue?  There are too many and the cats would panic and scatter.  It's too cold for Pepper. Cockatiels can't take cold.

STOP!!!!!  Why won't it stop?!?

That isn't a gust. That's prolonged wind. Okay. It's rumbling, but not train rumbling. No screaming of the wind. Just rumbling.  It's just wind - not a tornado. Oh God! It's wrapping around the house and blowing on my back window now!  Why won't it calm down so I can breathe between gusts? Why is the siren not going off?

Please God. It has to stop.  The sound is maddening.  MAKE IT STOP!!!!

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.
.

It's quieter down here. The sounds of the furnace coming from the intake vent are so comforting.  India is asleep on the couch.  She only slept in her room one night since coming home for Christmas break.  I hate that she has to go back to college on Tuesday.  Oh no! I have to drive her to the bus station in Erie in the snow!  In Pennsylvania!  No plowing there.

Romeo is sitting on the back of the chair, staring out the sun-room window, watching the wind by the glow of the street light.  Street lights through farm land to the state line - how odd.

Okay. That was loud.  I think a bird feeder just fell on the deck. I wonder if Outside Kitty is someplace safe.  I hate that he/she won't let us bring her inside where it's warm. Matthew is stirring. He's planned on leaving in another 70 minutes.

Matthew said the wind blowing on his room in the front of the house woke him before his alarm went off. He said he thought we were in a tornado too. He said he knows what my room sounds like in the wind and doesn't want to go in there. Coward.  That 4 foot pop-out making the addition wider than the rest of the house makes the wind sound terrible in my room. Like it's trying to rip the addition off after 39 years.

The wind is relentless.  It seems like it's getting stronger.  I'm so tired and want to go back to my bed.  I like my bed. It's so warm there. Matthew just made coffee.  Coffee or bed.  I know I'm not going in to church.

Seriously??  The house is groaning and creaking from that minute-long blast of strong wind... and here it comes again.

I'm still in the living room. Matthew is in the shower and the coffee is done.  I could grab the first cup. My favourite part of the pot. That would mean getting up and walking into the kitchen. I'm so tired.  The sky is turning grey out there with the sun trying to come up.  Basil, the ferret, knows I'm awake and it trying to get his cage open - he wants me to let him out so he can wander.  That would mean getting off the couch and walking across the room. I would love to call Johannes. He's usually awake about now, even though he is three hours behind. That would mean 4:17am his time. But that still is a walk to the kitchen to get the phone. I need to make a shopping list for India. I know I won't be awake if she calls me after service. She was planned on going to China Jade during Sunday School. I would love sweet and sour pork or a poo-poo platter. We haven't had Chinese food in forever. The coffee smells so good.

The wind is still powerful but I can see outside now and it somehow feels safer.  The trees are blowing about wildly outside the window.

7:27am  I managed to drag myself off the couch.  There was a loud bang on the deck.  A heavy wooden bench fell over.  The earlier sound wasn't a bird feeder, it was shingles landing on the deck.  I walked around  the house and checked things out.  We have branches down but the cars are still upright. I think the angle I left the tires at gave the van more stability.  She's rocking but protecting the Subaru by her mass.  I got some coffee, but it isn't helping.

Johannes' light came on Google chat. I'm going to call him.

Update: We have a plastic doghouse that was only used by Timothy (my beloved, late Maltese mix). Matthew just found the roof of it behind the house and the bottom up the hill near the propane tank.

Sinterklaas arrives tonight - will your children be in Spain tomorrow?

It's December 5th.  That day known to all Dutch children as the day when Sinterklaas arrives to either give the children presents - or punish them.  

Unlike our rotund Santa Clause, Sinterklaas is a slender man in the garb of the Catholic church's royalty.  

After all he is a retired Bishop of Turkey.  

He arrives by boat to The Netherlands in mid-November and then climbs onto a horse to travel around the country, listening to the wishes of all of the hopeful boys and girls. He is accompanied by six to eight black men.  Apparently a number that is too high for anyone to get an accurate count on. Zwarte Piet, as these black men are known formerly were slaves but now are friends of Sinterklaas.

In previous days, Sinterklaas and his Zwarte Piet would go house-to-house on the night December 5th giving presents to the good children and beating the bad children with a switch.  Sometimes they would even put the really bad children into sacks and take them back to Spain - where Sinterklaas now lives.  

Today, they merely pretend to kick the naughty boys and girls.

It makes me grateful to be an American where we only get lumps of coal.

After all, coal is worth a lot now-a-days.

Seriously - have you purchased any recently?

Happy St. Nicholas Day, Netherlands!!

Ingrid

(If you like David Sedaris, you will love the videos of his take on Sinterklaas.)

A Different Take On School Concerts

Now don't get me wrong, I love my children's school concerts.  Seriously, I would have to enjoy concerts after attending them for the last 19 years, or I would be even nuttier than my kids already think I am.  But since becoming a blogger I have discovered that I look at all of their activities completely different - with a more amused take on them.  I often find myself taking mental notes and then coming home and writing these notes on the programs before I sit down to blog about it.

But no more.  For now on I'll write the notes during the concert.  Why spend so much mental energy trying to remember what I want to write about?  

Right?

As I was getting ready to leave for the concert last night, I was brushing my teeth and India came into the bathroom to talk. I tipped my toothbrush and looked at it while it was still in my mouth and, in response to India's quizzical look, I said "I'm looking at the timer."  She asked me why I want to go to Ohio.  Close enough... If she were a dentist she would have understood me.

After heading out I decided I wanted the camera and we went back home to get it. 

Observation: Did'ja ever notice it's always the driver's side wiper that acts up first and it's always at eye level? 

As a result of going back for the camera, we got to school minutes before the concert was to begin.  The band was tuning up in the Gymnatorium (more and more people are calling it this as my kids make it go viral) and most of the crowd was seated.  India had run in earlier while Amanda and I were making our way in so we were greeted by India and Rachel (who shoved her little brother aside to hug me).  

While we were trying to decide where to sit,  the chorus director came up and told us he was in a tizzy because he had no one to run the camcorder.  Having raised my kids with a strong volunteering gene, I wasn't surprised when Amanda said she would do it. So, after quick instructions, Amanda was left to record the concert.

Something she was more than happy to do.

India and Rachel wanted me to sit with them in the front row but how could I move?  I had already experienced the kindness of some girls who, seeing me trying to figure out the route with the fewest bodies to climb to be near Amanda, stood up and motioned me to climb up by them.

And so it began in the typical school concert manner with people trying to decide whether or not they put their hand on their heart for the National Anthem.  

Once it was time to use the microphones, the normal crackling, popping and feed back began. No one even pays attention to it anymore. 

Before the Chamber Orchestra began, the director removed the bright yellow toque from the head of the bass player to the applause of the audience. 

On to chorus.  The music was wonderful and the kids did great but I have to make two observations: first of all, "The Joint is Jumping" is Swing, not Jazz.  Secondly, two words "Microphone Placement" - placing the microphones in front of the lesser singers distracts the audience from the over-all song and makes it so even the kindest, most understanding Mom has to fight back giggles. I'm not implying me, of course.  I would never giggle at anyone. *snicker*.

There are my girls!  With the combined Junior and Senior Choruses
Rachel is nestled in the middle to the left
While India is the vibrant redhead to the right.

The Senior Chorus
Lost in the vast expanse of the stage in our  Gymnatorium
Not bad for a 389 student, K-12 school.

One of the incredible things about my children's school is that a choice for second language is American Sign Language (India is fluent).  Here the chorus was singing selections from "Mr. Holland's Opus".  For those who don't remember, Glenn Holland was a wonderful Music Director with a deaf son. During the singing of "Beautiful Boy(Darling Boy)", two of the girls from the chorus signed the song. 

The camera caught them on the word "beautiful"

Rachel had a solo during "Haven't Met You Yet". She made me proud! Sorry about the camera jiggle.  It was making the weird movement so I moved it to the floor of the camera booth but the the jiggle seems to be in a pattern. Either it's a setting issue or my five year old camera is ready for retirement. 

India and me, snuggled during the band's touching rendition of
"It's So Hard To Say Goodbye To Yesterday"

As the Band was closing the concert with "I'm a Believer", folks couldn't help but notice the boy on the timpani was really getting into the song.  Which made the audience really get into it too. Happiness is contagious, you know.

After picking on the chorus director and thoroughly embarrassing his daughter in the process, we headed home.  Too bad I can't embarrass my kids, but they are just as odd as I am. I'm hoping if Rachel spends more time at our house she will become one of us. Mwahahahaha!!!

It was the usual car ride, loud music (Hey, I've got awesome Bose speakers in my van - feel the bass!) and lots of singing.  My brake light went out for the first time since my brake rebuild last summer, which totally messed with my mind.  But then it came back on and life was normal again.  Then there was that sudden 6 inch jerk to the right as we drove down the road but we decided it must have been a random wind-gust or a puddle from the earlier light rain. After about 15 minutes I remembered what I was saying before I noticed the odd brake light fluctuation that messed me up, and so I just carried on the conversation like I never left it, to the confusion of the girls. But they should expect this from me by now.

And who put this snow on my lawn while I was gone?????  It's Spring, for God's sake!!!!

Fun in the Snow

Heavy Lake Effect snow storm.  Cold temperatures. What do you do?  You go outside, of course. 

When we bought our house, our mail carrier left a note asking us to raise our mailbox.  The post had been snapped off so many times by snow plows that she had to lean WAY out of her SUV window to reach the box.  We decided to replace the entire set-up and I gave Jerome the mailbox - this is what he did with it. Andrew put it in one of the flower gardens. We usually leave the door open but we don't want some creature making a home inside the mailbox over the winter.

Come on over.  Have  a seat.  I dare you. 

Unless you would rather get comfy on the deck and have a bar-be-que.

Andrew had just come in the house after shoveling and cleaning off the cars.  A couple of hours after we came in Matthew went out and used the, supposed, broken snow-blower to clean up what Andrew had just shoveled.

I thought this looked pretty cool.  The snow was level with the window on the deck.  No shoveling off the deck in this household.  We like to see how deep the snow can get by the time winter is finished. 

 My Amanda.  She had homework for her photography class so she had to take black and white photos of me with the school's 35mm camera.  The last time she used me as a subject, all of the photos were ruined in developing.  Normally, she does a really good job with that so I'm kind of developing a complex about it.

 Sometimes Amanda just annoys me so I just like to push her aside.  Of course I protected the school's camera.

Pretty, isn't it? 

Well, that is an efficient use of a snow-fence. 

Amanda wimped out and said she was cold as the snow started coming down harder.  What?  Does she have an issue with being pushed in the snow? 

Looking up the hill behind my house.  One of the perks of living on a hill is we don't have to go far to go sledding. 

This tree caught my eye when we were looking at the house and I've taken photos of it in almost every season.  Amazingly, Autumn isn't a good season for this beautiful oak.  Her leaves just turn brown and drop.  But in winter, she is my favourite subject. 

Car-Tipping

Sometimes it doesn't matter just how you plan every little detail of your day to be right down to the minute in order to fit in everything that needs to be done.  Inevitably something is going to happen to totally mess up your schedule.  Take Saturday morning, for example.  I started my day at 6am when I had to wake India and get her to school to catch the school's Suburbans for a ride with the select group of girls chosen to sing in All-County chorus.  Because of the heavy snow squalls and blowing and drifting snows, the 12 minutes per-way trip took 45 minutes round-trip but amazingly French Creek had plowed!!  As soon as I got home I had time to put on my face,change from my jammies (yes, I drove in jammies) and take Jerome into school for his last day of basketball.  This time the trip was faster.  The squalls had stopped and the sun was out.  I called Matthew and told him I was leaving school and to meet me by the road and headed North for church outreach.
When I pulled up in front of the driveway, Matthew did as usual and walked to the front of the car and stared at me so I moved over to the passenger seat.  The road to the state line was in good shape but I was running late and had already had Matthew let them know so we could take it slowly.  As soon as we crossed the state line the road disappeared.  We chatted about how we preferred the Blazer on these roads and just then a Blazer passed us and we laughed.  We passed the section where it is always just over a lane wide in winter and I commented how Matthew shouldn't take this road back and that was when our world turned upside down... literally.  We hit a drift and got pulled to the left into another drift,  I thought okay, now we'll bog down but instead we gained speed and hit a third drift and swung to the right across the road and there was the snow in front of us. We hit the snow hard and plowed into the field before the car slowly tipped onto her roof.  I couldn't breathe with the pressure on the seatbelt and unhooked, dropping to the ceiling hard and snapping my neck.

A man was standing by the road when we got out and began searching for my cell on the ceiling. We waited in his truck until the police got there and then waited in the patrol car for the tow truck to right the car.  Every car that went by as we waited in the truck stopped to check on us.  The trooper was very kind and let us listen to Bob&Tom while we sat and chatted.  I had contacted my minister and we had plenty of prayers from the beginning.  The car ended up with a broken mirror, Matthew seems fine and I ended up with whiplash.  When I think of all the ways this could have gone completely different, I am grateful for the pain.