What's a little snow?

Certainly we are out of touch with the world here in snowtime. But many of our happiest memories are winter memories. Each day is a sort of triumph. It takes so much effort and planning merely to exist and keep warm. But see, we have been comfortable, we have been content! And each night we go to our beds with a sense of having truly lived that day.

~Elizabeth Coatsworth 

Another snowstorm yesterday. The wind was blowing the snow around and shooting from the rooftops. The plow scraped the roàd in front of the house and the temperature hovered below freezing. Did I stay inside? Of course not. I managed to get down my unplowed driveway..it's all downhill...and meet my friends for coffee. We few faithful were just about the only ones in Perkins. We cannot let the weather stop us from our morning routine. For years we worked and had to get there no matter what. There were no school cancellations back then. So I've continued to meet for morning coffee with my friends after retirement. It's been eleven years now. So hard to believe. In the good weather we go for a walk before coffee but now the fear of falling on icy paths prohibits that. 

  This morning it is calm as I look out the window. The report says it may even reach fifty tomorrow. How we long for a warmer day. It's been so cold for so long now. 

  I have been doing indoor chores and am using the time to organize and purge. I cleaned up a back bedroom. I also worked down in the basement. I have been throwing out things for a while now and reassessing what I actually need to keep trying to simplify my life. It is easier now. I say, do you really think you will use this again?  Old hobbies, entertaining fancy dishes...out they go. My goal is to know what I have and where it is. 

   Tonight I am riding up to Buffalo with a friend. She loves to sing and is in a barbershop chorus which practices on Wednesday nights. She is certainly devoted to go one hundred miles one way each week. 

And tomorrow my girlfriends and I are off to Jamestown..an hour away.. To the Olive Garden to celebrate birthdays. We don't let the cold stop us!