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When life gives you lemons, make patterns....

2/17/2015

1 Comment

 
Written Monday Morning after Sunday's storm...

My life’s  so bright I gotta wear shades....yes, it’s pretty  darn good,  but right now I’m talking about the blinding snow.    It’s windy and cold as heck but the sun is shining and looking out the window is like witnessing a nuclear explosion, burning the retinas right out of my head.   

In this calm after the storm, I do appreciate the sun shining after yesterday’s dumping of snow but I’m thankful it’s accompanied with cold temperatures.  We don’t want any quick thawing or this town will be revisiting a time back in the late 50’s when row boats were the mode of transportation on Main Street.   

I’m not one hundred percent sure, but I think this is the most snow we’ve had for decades.  Town space is getting smaller and the roads are narrowing as places to stack the white stuff disappear.  I don’t know why they don’t dump it into the harbour considering that’s where it’ll end up after melting.  Yes, there are environmental rules to follow but someone didn’t think that one through considering it ends up there as run off. 

The pups have been out on the back deck for pee breaks and although out of the driving force of the wind, it’s finger-numbing cold.  If we were forced to go out on the other side, the unprotected North Pole side, beaten by ice pellets that  make exposed skin feel sand blasted, I think I’d let them pee in the house.   The high winds delivered a whipping equivalent to an S&M master which didn’t inspire me to leave the warm house to go outside to shovel.  The wind would only blow the tossed snow back in my face so I procrastinated until the clock struck 5:30 pm.  I was running out of time and daylight.   

I’m still strong like ox, but  I’m creeping up there so I play it smart and always phone Shane to say I am going outside and give him a time when I should finish and call him back when I’m safe inside.  I’m not paranoid about heart attacks but why leave anything to chance.  I would lie out there a heck-of-a-long time before anyone would miss me.  I had an uncle who had a heart attack while in the outhouse and tried to crawl, in a snow storm,  to the front door of his house but died just a few feet from it.   A little prevention is always smart, part of my “what happens next life code”.  A gentleman in town died of a heart attack a week ago; they say it was from shoveling snow.  He was 22 years my senior but there’s no age limit on a coronary.   

That was quite the storm.  When I crawled in bed Saturday night it was cold and clear and I woke up to white hell Sunday morning that continued all day and well into the night.   After dark, I had candles burning in case the power went out.  I don’t know why it didn’t, it was windier than a three hundred pound man sitting on a whoopee cushion.  It came at the house like a battering ram; some of the blows shook the foundation.  The wind ripped and tore at the shingles howling like the hounds of hell, dropping snow that barred doors and windows until we were trapped inside.  We live by the ocean so it’s always extra brutal here.  Last evening the wind was so strong when I went out to the windy side to get the shovel so I could clear the deck on the sheltered side for the pups, the wind grabbed it and effortlessly blew it into the air like a balloon on a string. The gusts beat on the back door like an angry fist; if it hadn’t been hooked it might have been ripped off and blown away, landing on a pair of red shoes somewhere.   The dogs were constantly barking from the banging against the door frame so I had to turn up the TV volume to drown out the noise.    

If I’m storm stayed I have enough food to last until Wednesday.  After that the pups will have to go vegetarian.  I joke a lot about being the first to perish in a natural disaster.  We eat fresh from the store, we don’t stock packaged food and rarely have cans of anything except stewed tomatoes. Once the eggs and fresh vegetables are eaten, I’ll be on a permanent diet until rescued.   

I have enough cream for one more coffee.  Funny....I’m certainly not a slave to the beverage and I usually sip a few mouthfuls and then it goes cold as work distracts me, but now that I might be denied the experience the hankering begins.  Even if I could get to town, today is a holiday and the stores will be closed.  Strange to be trapped by a habit that I don’t even own. 

As I look out my window I can’t help feel a bit persecuted and a whole lot frustrated.   One can only hope this is the last of the snow for this year, but then you know what they say about hope, “it’s a turd covered with icing” and really, that’s just more white stuff.

So when Mother Nature gives you lemons you stay home, safe and warm and design patterns.  I worked on three more Christmas stockings.  I bragged I’d have 50 by the end of 2014 and fell a bit short.  I looked around my kitchen for inspiration and thought dah!   For all the Blue Willow fans, here’s one for you! 


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Blue Willow Stocking
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Candy Cane Stocking
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Clowning Around Stocking
1 Comment
Mabel Neil
2/17/2015 06:38:06 am

I am thinking of you, as we keep track of the weather patterns in the Maritimes. Blessings to you all!

Reply



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