Winter Wonderland

I started the day quietly, with the radio, oatmeal for breakfast, and pilates. It was really a rather beautiful day. The sky was was a dazzling blue and the sun a blazing yellow that made the now-three-feet of snow sparkle like thousands of microscopic crystals. I figured few people would be able to shovel themselves out of a foot of snow by 11AM, so I walked to work.

When I stepped onto my porch, I found myself in a white world. Everything was blindingly white, from the ground to the tops of whispery trees. My porch was still messy from last night. I had to walk down very carefully. The path to the street wasn't too bad, thanks to Michael's efforts yesterday afternoon, but the street itself had been blocked by piles of ice and snow scraped off to the sides by snow plows. It took me longer to get to the street than to walk on streets and sidewalks!

Kendall and Manor weren't too bad. The streets were slushy, but they'd been plowed, and many sidewalks were shoveled or in the process of being shoveled. I didn't have any problems until I hit the Black Horse Pike. The highway had been plowed...but naturally, no one had bothered with the sidewalk. I had to walk in the street. The piles of ice along the curb in front of the Acme were a lot of fun to climb over, too. At one point, I stumbled into a snowdrift that was literally up to my waist!

I was almost late to work. I got in just under the wire. Work was surprisingly steady, despite the mess outside. A lot of people were taking advantage of a day off from work or school and the cleared streets to pick up anything they ran out of after the storm. We were only missing a few people, too.

Though I'd been able to get to work all right, I didn't want to chance walking home later, just in case the streets got icy. I called Dad and got a ride home. I was right in not calling him in the morning; turns out he hadn't been anywhere near finished shoveling Uncle Ken's wide driveway at 11, even with help from neighbors.

My porch was still slushy when I got in, but the steps were clear, perhaps a result of them being in direct sunlight. The sun felt rather nice on my back this morning. In fact, it wasn't really that cold, probably in the mid-30s, which would account for the amazing icicles hanging off of people's roofs and the huge puddles on the streets.