Wednesday, February 05, 2014

The Long Winter

Ohhhh, this weather.  What can I say?  It's winter out there, and sometimes winter is brutal.

This year seems especially harsh, but I am choosing not to let the 24/7 weathertainment machine make me crazy about something that I should expect as a resident of the northeast United States.

I've stopped counting how many "inclement weather" days the kids have used.  Our school gets 4 built into the schedule, and I think we passed that back in December.  Mopsy has had so many preschool days cancelled that her teacher told all the parents that once the spring is here she will extend the school day by a half hour so that they could do some of the fun projects that had to be scrapped.

On Monday we got 9 inches of snow, and last night we got an inch of ice on top of all of that. I managed to use the window between the storms to grab all my groceries, so I had plenty of time to stare out the window and try to remember what green grass looks like.

Most days, I don't mind staying in. Dressing everyone for the outdoors is an epic feat and piloting the land yacht along snow packed roads is less than exhilarating. Rear wheel drive is not my friend in this weather.

The snowy woods behind our house, looking from the corner of our front porch.


The Snow Removal Crew getting instructions from the Crew Chief.

Fiver is shovel ready. And that snow is heavy and wet.

The second shift of the snow crew, post naps.

Helping Daddy, shovelful by tiny shovelful.

The Land Yacht with its snow cap.

This is one of my favorite pictures.  This is Bun and Sally, lying on top of their snow fort,
talking things over. They are getting older and moving in different circles,
but their old closeness still comes out.  I hope they remain that way through life.

The view from my windshield while waiting to drop Mopsy at school.
It's hard to tell from this angle, but that pile of snow in front of the van is as high as the hood.
And that street had already been plowed. Twice.

The parking lot across the street from school. I usually park there, but there was no way
I'd be able to make it back out with that much snow.

One of the roads on the way home from school. You can finally see about a half lane of
blacktop, for which I was very grateful.  Just beyond the trees and that little beige
building is the partially frozen river.  I shiver every time I drive over the bridge
on my way home.  



But even the weather can't steal all of our fun.  I've always been so happy to have Bun's birthday in the dark recesses of winter, just to break up the monotony. 
The birthday banner!

Six. How did that happen? 

This is the cake I made for Bun.  He picked it from the internet, even though he only eats
plain chocolate cake with plain white icing.  Everyone else thought it was delicious.

Mopsy helped me put the candles in the cake.  She was also offering herself as a taste-tester.

One of my favorite things is knowing that Bun and my dad share their birthday.
They have always thought it was such a special gift to be birthday buddies.

Make a wish!

I hope they wished for warmer temperatures.  Or at least above-freezing temperatures.

5 comments:

  1. We were snowed in for 4 days last week with 4 inches of snow and it was KILLER. By the end of the week I was DONE DONE DONE with the snow. I cannot imagine how you feel!

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  2. Well, at least the snow is pretty. But that's easy for me to say since I don't have to deal with it day after day! Here's to hoping that the groundhog was wrong!

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  3. Oh, dear Aimee--condolences from Wisconsin. It's been boil-a-pot-of-water-and-it-will-turn-to-steam-before-it-hits-the-ground cold here but from your photos, I'd say your winter seems to be much worse there. Fortunately, you seek the sunshine of life and see the beauty. Keep plugging away!

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  4. Two things jumped out at me- 1) it's nice to know that native Pennsylvanians are sick of this winter, too. Slightly comforts me. For some reason (hormones? insanity?) something shifted in me this week, and I'm fine with all the snow. Perhaps because I don't have to go out in it regularly anymore? Newborn confinement has an upside!

    2) LOVE the idea that Bun's bday breaks up the monotony of winter... and that he likes sharing it! Our new babe has an end-of-Jan bday, which he shares with an Uncle. I was not thrilled with either of those facts... but now see it differently. Perhaps he will like to share as well ?!

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  5. Land Yacht, oh my goodness, I'm laughing. And I have nothing more intelligent to say; I couldn't get past it. I'm still giggling. We have lots of those here--I don't know whether you're among a minority where you live? Seems that with six kids, we're just average in our parish. There are several LYs in the parking lot for weekend Masses. :) (Still giggling)

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