The Snow-Laden Sunday Six
Well, if you live on the East Coast and/or are a Weather Channel watcher, you probably know that states from Virginia on north got a whole bunch of snow dumped on them. The local weather people didn't have a clue until late Friday how much we were going to get, but everyone was running around like crazy after work on Friday. I needed to hit the post office and get cough drops so I could go home to nurse the sore throat that was starting to come on, so of course the punishment for skipping the faculty happy hour was running into this guy at the drugstore. Sheesh. Fortunately, he did not ask me out. He did ask me my name--I am baffled how somebody could remember a detail like the fact that I am an aspiring writer but not remember my name. Of course, he also interpreted my comments about my job to mean I didn't like it very much. I just didn't like talking to him about my job. Or anything else. I just wanted to get the hell home and couldn't figure out how to get him to take the hint that the conversation needed to end.
In any event, yesterday's snow was a bit of a blessing because the bookstore wound up closing before the time I was scheduled to work, so I got to stay home and take care of my cold. I'm feeling a lot better today, and I made it to Mass. There were four of us in the choir, plus my dad (organist) and the choir director. . . and about ten people downstairs. (Not counting the three families that arrived mid-Mass because they were told the Latin Mass started an hour earlier than it actually does!) I didn't drive--my parents picked me up, and after brunch at my parents' my dad drove me back to the apartments and helped me dig out my car.
I received a call from the school snow chain that school is delayed two hours, so I have time to post! I guess I'd better get down to it, then. In all honestly, I have a love-hate relationship with snow. Every time someone in this area talks about how he or she wants a "White Christmas," in my mind I'm taking a swing at them. I mean, seriously, we don't get snow around here in December most years, and some of us actually like going to church and visiting with people. We get dumped on in February and March because we're just not depressed enough at that time of year. So here are six things I love or hate about that four-letter-word SNOW:
1. Hate: Snow screws up the roads. We don't get hit with a decent amount of snow often enough around here to build up our driving skills like they do in, say, Dayton, Ohio. What makes it worse is that many drivers seem to think that having an SUV gives them magical driving abilities. (Dave E. can tell you stories about people's moments of "Winter Dumbass.")
2. Love: Snow is pretty and covers a multitude of sins. Right now it is covering the gaping hole that was my patio. (Did I mention that this week they did waterproofing at the apartments? I had no idea it involved digging up everything around the building! And now I have yellow caution tape across my patio doors, not to mention a traumatized cat.)
3. Hate: Snow is a lot less enjoyable when you have to be somewhere, like work or church or a major event. I did make it to get my hair cut early yesterday morning, when the snow had just started, and there was a girl at the salon getting her hair done for her bat mitzvah. She was in good spirits, but her parents were kind of upset that half the guests they'd planned to have, couldn't make it.
4. Love: Snow quiets things down. Fewer people out about about. When I was away at college and it snowed, I'd take a walk pretty far from campus to get away from the noisy dorms and just lie in the snow by a pond. The crystalline stillness gave me a lot of peace.
5. Hate: The local news people are just waiting for the snow to kill people so they can report it. (I hate that snow has the potential to kill people, too.)
6. Love: Snow can bring out good in people. After my dad and I finished digging out my car, one of my neighbors I know by sight by not by name offered me a plate of homemade cookies in exchange for the loan of my shovel. I said it wasn't necessary to give me anything in exchange, but sure enough about an hour later, she knocked on my door and handed me the shovel along with a plate of various homemade cookies. And I learned her name, and also that she lives exactly two floors above me. Neat.
I hope you all have a very good week!
In any event, yesterday's snow was a bit of a blessing because the bookstore wound up closing before the time I was scheduled to work, so I got to stay home and take care of my cold. I'm feeling a lot better today, and I made it to Mass. There were four of us in the choir, plus my dad (organist) and the choir director. . . and about ten people downstairs. (Not counting the three families that arrived mid-Mass because they were told the Latin Mass started an hour earlier than it actually does!) I didn't drive--my parents picked me up, and after brunch at my parents' my dad drove me back to the apartments and helped me dig out my car.
I received a call from the school snow chain that school is delayed two hours, so I have time to post! I guess I'd better get down to it, then. In all honestly, I have a love-hate relationship with snow. Every time someone in this area talks about how he or she wants a "White Christmas," in my mind I'm taking a swing at them. I mean, seriously, we don't get snow around here in December most years, and some of us actually like going to church and visiting with people. We get dumped on in February and March because we're just not depressed enough at that time of year. So here are six things I love or hate about that four-letter-word SNOW:
1. Hate: Snow screws up the roads. We don't get hit with a decent amount of snow often enough around here to build up our driving skills like they do in, say, Dayton, Ohio. What makes it worse is that many drivers seem to think that having an SUV gives them magical driving abilities. (Dave E. can tell you stories about people's moments of "Winter Dumbass.")
2. Love: Snow is pretty and covers a multitude of sins. Right now it is covering the gaping hole that was my patio. (Did I mention that this week they did waterproofing at the apartments? I had no idea it involved digging up everything around the building! And now I have yellow caution tape across my patio doors, not to mention a traumatized cat.)
3. Hate: Snow is a lot less enjoyable when you have to be somewhere, like work or church or a major event. I did make it to get my hair cut early yesterday morning, when the snow had just started, and there was a girl at the salon getting her hair done for her bat mitzvah. She was in good spirits, but her parents were kind of upset that half the guests they'd planned to have, couldn't make it.
4. Love: Snow quiets things down. Fewer people out about about. When I was away at college and it snowed, I'd take a walk pretty far from campus to get away from the noisy dorms and just lie in the snow by a pond. The crystalline stillness gave me a lot of peace.
5. Hate: The local news people are just waiting for the snow to kill people so they can report it. (I hate that snow has the potential to kill people, too.)
6. Love: Snow can bring out good in people. After my dad and I finished digging out my car, one of my neighbors I know by sight by not by name offered me a plate of homemade cookies in exchange for the loan of my shovel. I said it wasn't necessary to give me anything in exchange, but sure enough about an hour later, she knocked on my door and handed me the shovel along with a plate of various homemade cookies. And I learned her name, and also that she lives exactly two floors above me. Neat.
I hope you all have a very good week!
Comments
I just need to find a used flamethrower to make the cleanup go a tad faster.
Bing, I was going to make almost that exact comment on your post at Swilling.
WV: "billho" Members of the US Senate