Counting the Days

When we heard the news yesterday that school would be closed today also, giving us an entire snow week, one of my colleagues texted: Enjoy the rest of your 7 day weekend or your 3 week winter break, lol!

I'll take it either way!

Longterm Memory

I was waiting to drop a package outside the UPS store when a woman coming out stopped and called me by name. "It's Mallory's mother!" she said.

I remembered her, and we had a nice conversation, but as she walked away I was still a little surprised that she recognized me, because 1) a KN95 mask covered more than half of my face, and 2) it had been 20 years since I taught her daughter.

I must have made a big impression!

Roadblocks

This morning I decided to use my third snow day in a row as one of the required five floating professional development days built into this year's school calendar, and I was feeling pretty productive plowing through items on my recertification list when I hit a bit of a jam. 

It's a state mandate that all teachers certify in first aid, CPR, and AED as part of license renewal process. Our district makes it as convenient as possible, offering an online course for the first part and several in-person options for the hands-on portion, but it was the online course that slowed my roll; I just didn't want to see or hear about graphic injuries, even in the service of helping those who might get them. When I got to Bleeding and Wounds it was time to take a break, and so I went to the grocery store. 

With the exception of random piles of slushy ice here and there, the roads were fine, and it was with a renewed sense of purpose that I entered the store to accomplish the next item on my to-do list. I was reviewing my list as I wheeled my cart into the produce section, when looking up I skidded to a halt and gasped. The shelves were almost empty! At the butcher counter, it was the same situation. Don't get me wrong; although I left the store without several items on my list, we want for nothing. Without oranges and arugula, green beans, squash, and avocados, there is more than enough food on our shelves and in our fridge to last a good, long time. 

The storm-impacted roads, added to the already fragile supply chain, and the binge-shopping people always do when snow is forecast, had left the grocery store more depleted than I have seen since, well, 2020. 

Present Moment

Current situation:

Sitting in front of the fire, turtle neck, flannel, fleece, and fuzzy slippers, a cup of tea, a good book, tired from shoveling, but still exhilarated from a couple of hours in the sun and snow.

And just like that?

School is closed again tomorrow.

Perfect Storm

The storm arrived just as predicted: it began snowing right around 4 this morning and the roads were terrible all day. So confident was the forecast that our school district canceled classes at 5 last night, long before a flake had fallen. And when the skies cleared right around 3 this afternoon, there was more snow than we've had in at least 3 years. 

The roads were still lousy, not a plow had passed our way, and school was canceled again for tomorrow. The snow itself was beautiful; heavy packed powder blanketed the ground and although trees bowed beneath its weighty robe, they did not shrug it off, and the sun set over a laden landscape. 

There will be time enough tomorrow to dig out, but today we simply enjoyed the weather.

All Season Gardening

I finally made it up the hill to clean out my garden for the winter. It was 65 today, and I worked in a t-shirt and jeans to stack the tomato cages and pull up and compost the dried bean stalks, peppers, peonies, and sunflowers. It's been so warm the last month or so, that bright green weeds have already covered a lot of the mulch and soil, and I got a fair amount of dirt under my nails as I pulled those up, too. After a couple of hours, the place was reasonably tidy and all ready for the big snow storm that's predicted for tomorrow.

Great Expectations

It's been gray and rainy here all day, but holiday lights still twinkle and blink as the first day of the new year has subsided to quiet darkness. Our traditional dinner is simmering on the stove-- greens, black-eyed peas, ham, chicken, corn, and rice, and some of the family will join us soon.

So far, so good, 2022.