The Storm

The blizzard came exactly as predicted with around 10 inches of snow.  Next door neighbor Scott ran his snowblower down the sidewalk early in the morning, but then he had to go to work so for the rest of the day, the shoveling was up to me.  I did it carefully, doing ten to fifteen minutes of shoveling at a time to avoid back strain or a heart attack.  I was still shoveling at 5:00 pm when Scott was back.  It was a great relief because the city snow plows had closed in the driveway. That kind of wet snow is heavy and it is even heavier when compacted by the plows.  Scott quickly dealt with it and we agreed that I could call on him this winter while Gary is gone.

During the day, I vacillated on what to cook for my Solstice Party, since the roads were so bad. At one point in the afternoon, I was in despair, wondering if there would be any gathering at all, but I ate a couple of snickerdoodles with a cup of hot chocolate and all was right in my world again. How could I get upset when we will have a white Christmas after all?  I listened to music on the stereo all day and watched my little world turn magical.

In the end, I never made the scones, did little about vegetables, but did cook up ham and turkey on the theory that I could use them as leftovers and cook them up into something this next week.  Rascal was in heaven with good smells for him to enjoy all day.

It was a small gathering.  The Manzkes reported they wouldn't dig out until tomorrow.  The Greggs said the same. The Green Bay and Appleton folks I warned off. So can you believe that Doris drove all the way from DePere anyhow?  Colette and Elaine were there, too, and that made four of us.  We talked for hours.

Next year, another attempt at a Solstice Party...unless I cave and do an Equinox Party instead.