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“The snow had begun in the gloaming
And busily all the night
Had been heaping field and highway
With a silence deep and white.
Every pine and fir and hemlock
Wore ermine too dear for an earl
And the poorest twig on the elm tree
Was ridge inch-deep with pearl.”
~James Russell Lowell, The First Snowfall
It snowed quite heavily all day here yesterday. What started off as a slow drifting of downy flakes in the morning deepened as the day progressed, and by mid-afternoon you could barely see across the road. Once the wind started to blow it was not fit for man nor beast. I had been going to stop next door to ask Sheila if she was okay and did she need anything, but without a pair of winter boots I couldn't walk out into it. I tried to open my back door this morning and it is snowed shut. We got a fair amount I would say.
The power flickered a few times, but thankfully did not go off entirely although my cousin Sheri who lives not too far down the road was not as lucky. She lost hers completely and she and her son Sawyer ended up at her sisters where they have a wood stove and a generator. I was surprised she was able to get there as on the mountain I am sure it was even worse than it was here in the Valley.
According to the news this morning, there are 66,000 Nova Scotia Power customers without power, most in the Annapolis Valley. I am lucky that one of them is not myself.
I spent the day closeted in with my cats, baking and working on my lesson for Sunday. I was cozy and content. I took advantage of not being able to go out and thought I would wash my coat, which was rather stupid of me now I think as had we lost the power I would not have been able to dry it.
Once done and dried I was folding my laundry on my bed and Cinnamon and Nutmeg just had to come and lay on my coat. I did not have the heart to chase them off, they seemed to be so content laying there, all snuggled into its warmth. They are wonderful companions, both to myself and to each other. They kept me company all the day through.
At one point I brought a handful of snow in for them to investigate. They thought it quite interesting and gave it a good old sniff. Cinnamon tried to bat it around a bit, but soon gave up. I think she found it quite cold, or that could just be my fanciful imagination! She more than likely just found it to be quite boring.
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Were I a child I would be gagging to get out into the snow today and do some sledding, perhaps build a snowman or have a snowball fight, or better yet a fort. Those were fun snow day activities when I was growing up. Once you become an adult, it loses its charm in the face of having to shovel and clear off the walkways, decks, etc.
Thankfully I live in a place where this is done for me.
I remember when I was a child living on the Manitoba prairies for a time, we always had a neighbor who would build a snow slide for us. Because everything was flat, flat, flat, there was no place to really go sledding.
This is a photograph I took a few minutes ago across the way so you could see how deep it is and how it has drifted. I don't think anyone will be going anyplace any time soon. Both my back and front doors are drifted in. I now know why most people have their screen doors propped open. Whilst the inside storm door opens into the house. The screen door opens out onto the front porch and if that gets covered in with snow there is no opening it.
Nutmeg is on neighborhood watch. Making sure nothing untoward happens. I expect they will both be very interested when the snowplow comes. I would say we got about 12 inches of snow.
Wait the snow plow just came, and yes . . . they were completely enthralled.
I was just talking to my father on the phone. He is safe and going back to bed. Funny story. While I am talking to him, I started to hear this alarm going off and I said to him can you hear that beeping? He says no, because of course he doesn't have his hearing aids on. So I am running about the house while I am talking to him looking for this alarm and it starts to get louder as I go into the back room and I am looking all over the back room to see what it is. I have no idea. Is it a carbon monoxide detector? Is it my freezer? What is it.
It was my father's alarm clock. DUH.
On the opposite end of Winter I have been watching Real Housewives in the Turks and Caicos this week. They took a few housewives from each of the different series and put them in a holiday let in the Caribbean Islands. I was quite disappointed to see some really visible bullying going on towards the end of the series directed towards Ramona Singer. I know she is a selfish and self centered individual, but I really didn't expect to see this kind of behavior by some of the individuals in the show, by people who should know better. I was quite disappointed by it. They only showed themselves up for being the petty individuals that they are. Kenya. Luann. Tsk Tsk I expected better. I think the nicest one of the group was Kyle Richards. Of course I have never watched any of the other series other than the RHONY and I don't think I will now.
My father always said that two wrongs didn't make a right and he was correct on that one.
I was saddened to hear last evening of the death of actor Sydney Poitier. He was a fine actor. I think I have seen every film he was ever in, but one of my favorites was To Sir With Love. I remember wanting to go to the theatre on the base to see it but none of our mother's would let us because there was rumors that there was a scene where they were burning feminine hygiene products in the classroom stove. I sat and watched it last night in his honor. I enjoyed it every bit as much as I did when I first saw it. (I was much older than 13 years old I have to say.) We have come a long ways since being horrified about such a thing as burning feminine hygiene products. The young people in the film were considered hooligans, but in looking back were quite tame as compared to the youth of today.
Or maybe I have turned into that old fogey that people warned me about!
Oh I am happy to be here inside, all nice and cozy, warm, safe and content. My power is on. My cats are purring. All is right in my little corner of the world.
And with that I will leave you with a thought for today . . .
•。★★ 。* 。
° 。 ° ˛˚˛ * _Π_____*。*˚
˚ ˛ •˛•˚ */______/~＼。˚ ˚ ˛
˚ ˛ •˛• ˚ ｜ 田田 ｜門 ★
*.˛.In the Winter
all the singing is in
the tops of the trees.
~Mary Oliver•。★★ 。* 。
In The English Kitchen today . . . . Fudgy Sour Milk Chocolate Cake. A snack cake from a cookbook by Yossy Arefi. It was supposed to use buttermilk, but my milk went sour and so I used that instead. It turned out beautifully!
Have a beautiful Saturday wherever you are and whatever you get up to. Don't forget!
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