Friday, January 3, 2014

A Peace of Winter



I’m currently hunkered down here with our two-day storm, happy in stretchy pants and sweatshirt. All in all, it’s not such a big deal – the snow is very light and fluffy, our road is plowed very regularly, and I’m no longer schlepping off to work. We’re not anywhere close to the Berkshires, and so ended up with only about 6 inches, small beer here in Western Massachusetts.
          Yet how could you not be a bit edgy when you have a storm named Hercules coming your way? With the 24 hour availability of the Weather Channel, where they talk about nothing but the weather, it’s easy to get hyped up. Their forecasters stand in front of their maps and diagrams, reeling off wind speeds, historic temperatures, and expected depths. Others clutch microphones while being beaten by surf, or gale force winds, and it starts to seem inevitable that it’s only a matter of time before all this weather drama reaches our doors. The last hurricane had me filling the bathtub and taping the windows, while all we finally experienced was a heavy rainstorm.
          I was prepared again this time. Knowing the nor’easter was coming on Thursday, my first counter measure was to jump in my car and hit the stores. I figured if I was going to be trapped indoors for two days, I needed to spend some quality time trying on shoes.
          I discovered that New Year’s Day is a great time to go shopping. There’s no school and many are home from work, so the roads were deserted, and 50% of the world is hung over, so the stores were empty, particularly of the pre-Christmas mania. I had found the real peace of the holiday season. 

8 comments:

  1. Thanks for visiting my blog. I hope you are enjoying being snowed in. Except for all the shoveling, I usually do!
    What did you teach? I taught British Lit and college writing, along with some other subjects here and there in the 35 years.

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    1. Hi Cynthia -
      Like you, I taught high school English. I really enjoyed the last 4 or 5 years because I was teaching International Baccalaureate English, which if done right, is college-level. However, it was in an inner-city school, not some rarified prep school. A wonderful challenge for teacher and student. So glad you stopped by.

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  2. Love how you prepare for a storm with lots of hype. Glad it hasn't been as rough as predicted for you. I shopped Jan 1 also and loved having the stores to myself.

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    1. Yes, by January 1st I think most of the die-hard shoppers are done. With family visiting for Christmas, it was the earliest I could get out.

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  3. Shoes trump everything for me, too! Keep warm.

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  4. My husband and I were in bed at our usual time on New Year's eve.. He had to work New Years's day so I did a little shopping. It was a nice time to be out! Enjoyed your post.

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  5. Smart lady! I hate shopping during the holidays, and avoid malls entirely. I send my husband to pick up necessities, and we hand out gift cards to our children and grands. I do like hitting discount malls once or twice a year for all the stuff we have postponed buying. Hope the weather cooperates for you.

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  6. I love you description of the weather hype. So true.

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