9:00 am. Chevy Chase, Maryland. 8 inches. Its still snowing here. Channel 9's Topper Shutt says the fall will continue until late this afternoon. That's OK with me.
Random snow associations:
- 2009 - Can't help thinking about the merchants who had counted on this week-end of Christmas shoppers.
- 1970s - Remembering the times I watched Jimmy, Karen and Robin trudge out in a heavy show fall to deliver the Washington Post and the now defunct Washington Star. remember the days when teen-agers delivered the newspaper, either on bike of foot. It was a great income for kids and they learned a lot about money, business and dealing with all kinds of people. Paper routes were passed along in families and between friends. When we moved into this house Jimmy got his Post route from a friend and then he helped Karen into another one. Robin delivered the Star, the afternoon paper, until she had enough of a a tyrannical dog. I don't know how it is other places, but in our area those jobs have been taken over by adults in cars.
- 1962 - When Jimmy was six Santa brought him a Basset puppy for Christmas in Chapel Hill. He named him Kris Kringle. The first year we lived in the Washington area there was a mega snow storm which paralyzed the area. Our neighborhood was impassable for a week. The snow was so deep that when Kris walked out the first time his legs would not reach the ground and the poor dog just hung in the snow until Jimmy realized the problem and rescued him. Fortunately Jim was home. He was on duty late at Malcolm Grow Hospital, Andrews Air Force Base and followed a lone snow plow home after midnight on the brand new 495 Beltway, never realizing that during the night the snow would close down the whole area.
- 1958 in Brooklyn - the first time I experienced a blizzard. Jim was interning at Kings County Hospital. He had not been home for 48 hours. When he finished his shift the evening of the snow he took the last subway and made it home before midnight. Our apartment was in the attic of an old Victorian house. I remember looking out the window and seeing him turn the corner into our street, bent over against the wind and trudging slowly toward home.
- 1945 - The other day on the telephone my sister Lynda asked, "do you remember the Christmas we got our wagon?" Absolutely, I did. She went on, "it was snowing that day and Daddy pulled me and Kathy in the wagon when we all walked over the Granny's for Christmas. It was so fun! So happy!" As the oldest I have more to add. That was the first Christmas Daddy was home from the War. (WWII) We lived in an apartment on Hawthorne Lane - about 14 blocks from Granny's. Between Hawthorne Lane and Granny's there were many possible stops, Aunt Betty, Aunt Loretto, Uncle Bill and Aunt Ellie, Bob Robertson, Daddy's friend and many others. That day after we left Granny's we walked home by way of Aunt Ellie and Uncle Bill's. Uncle Bill was Daddy uncle, his father's brother. But more, he and Aunt Ellie made melt-in-your-mouth Christmas Candy Mints. Aunt Ellie gave Mama the recipe. Mama tried for years to make them but she was never successful until she finally got a piece of marble to cool them on and my brother Robert was old enough and strong enough to pull them. Robert still makes them - and if you are reading this Robert, I am tasting them and hoping.
Storytelling tip: Let what's happening at the moment, like this snow, prompt other times like it, and catch stories. Its particularly fun to do it with other people. Stories multiply.
Do you have snow stories?
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