Snow Survival

The blizzard that hit the Northeast this weekend was certainly a big one, and I for one loved it. It's true, many people experienced a lot of damage from it, and our thoughts are with them. But for my family and I, it was mostly an adventure. No power loss, plenty of food in the fridge, despite my refusal to raid the grocery store for gallons of milk and loaves of bread, and for the kids, a magical snow fall. Mrs. G got a few days off and the kids loved that too.

I was at work Friday night, as usual, selling the neighborhood the requisite beverages for a snowbound weekend. People sure do drink a lot of fancy stuff when there's nothing else to do. After an early dismissal at 7:00 pm, I treated myself to a warming glass on Calvados, an apple cider brandy from Normandy, just the thing to sit back and enjoy the snow.

For dinner, a heaping bowl of beef stew with Guinness I had cooked up for six hours starting at 8:00 am. Guinness Foreign Extra, the stronger, drier, hoppier version of Guinness Stout, is an old treat thankfully now available in the US. 

Saturday morning saw my front stairs hidden in snow. The top of the retaining wall just visible to the right is five feet tall. 

I may be notorious for the fun I like to poke at what I call the "Urban Lumberjack" look, but in that much snow LL Bean Maine Hunting Shoes and a vintage 1950s pair of thick wool buffalo plaid hunting pants, held up by braces, are really just the thing. Perfect for my hike to work. (Yes, I worked Saturday at one of only two stores open in the neighborhood.)

Scenes from the walk to work. Plenty of people out on skis and snow shoes. Everyone having a good time. It was nice to see, actually.

Around 4:00 pm one of my best food customers, a British lady, had made the trip in for some cheese. I saw that she had a bag from the nearby convenience store, the only other place open. With the coffee house closed and the work pot out of commission, I asked her whether she knew if they had coffee by the cup for sale. She was pretty sure they didn't. She also returned twenty minutes later with a French press full of fresh, good coffee and three mugs for me and the boys. That act of kindness will remain one of the most memorable things about this storm for me.

Sunday I got to spend some time with the snow bunnies in the back yard, getting wet and cold and digging snow forts. People complain about this kind of weather a lot, but not me. The kids love it, and so do I.

Later that evening, Mrs. and I ventured down to the local Square, which had mostly awaken from its Wintry slumber of the day before. Walking was an adventure, but a fun one. I've always the loved the way a lot of snow can transform the most familiar places into a new land.

A dinner of braised duck leg and locally brewed cask conditioned beer, in this case Jack's Abby Private Rye Biere de Garde of Framingham, Masachusetts,  finishes things nicely.

Happy Blizzard everybody!

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All I Want For Christmas....

...is Winter...Snow shovelling, sledding with the kids, no school today, hot cocoa, two pairs of socks, honest to god old fashioned New England Winter...

This photo was taken in my pantry at 11:30 pm, Monday 10 December, just outside of Boston, Massachusetts. Please note that the window is not only open, but fully wide open. What happened to Winter? Have we killed it?

Before one of you pounces on me for this, I am fully aware that I have mentioned many times my utter distaste for the particularly Boston habit of complaining about the weather, no matter what it may be. But this is not a complaint. It's more of a lament. You see, I actually enjoy a good proper Winter.

When I was a kid, the snow set in before Thanksgiving and was on the ground until April. It was beautiful to see it and fun to play in it. Despite what many people would see as discomfort, I learned to find a particular quiet beauty in it, a great comfort in piling into my layers of wool, stuffing two pairs of socks into Maine Hunting Shoes, everyone pitching in to clear the way, then coming in to a warm house and fresh cocoa. By this time of year, I'd have had that experience a few times. Lately, it never comes.

Sure, it's nice to have balmy weather, but all the time? I'm the kind of guy who believes that you can't have Yin without Yang, that the beauty of a hot Summer day is pointless without an equally beautiful foot of snow in December. For the last few years, not a day goes by that I don't see someone in shorts, and I'm usually a bit damp with sweat in all the tweed and flannel I still insist on wearing. True, I do love the clothes, and I miss being able to wear them so much, but this isn't really about that. It's about balance, and the new lack of it. 

I don't want to start a political or scientific debate over global warming and climate change. Frankly, I wouldn't be able to keep up. Maybe we've just had some mild Winters. Maybe the climate is just changing. Maybe years from now the concept of a snowy Winter in Boston will be an old time novelty, and there will be fewer of us who remember the good-old-tough-old-days. Should that be the case, i will accept it. After all, we can't really change the weather. But it won't stop me from fondly remembering and silently hoping for a good old two foot snow fall.

All I want for Christmas is my Winter back.