Our small Nor’easter

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postaday2015, shovel, snow

Isn’t the snow so pretty? I spent about two hours shoveling outside and it was a pretty good workout. The snow was perfectly light and fluffy, very easy on the back, I was mindful the entire time; bending at the knees and using my core muscles. I spent the entire time in deep thought, most of which I have forgotten except for why I was shoveling in the first place even though I have the worst cold in the world. My thoughts were going every which way, at least I was sweating out my cold which led me to think of my father who swore by a good old fashioned hot grog full of armagnac, enough to kill any cold dead, really dead, which got me back to why did I feel the crazy need to shovel when I should be in bed, because I have been feeling fat lately which led me to thinking I always feel fat, no matter what I look like, which led me to the fact that at 134 lbs I am not fat, but I am heavier than normal and with being menopausal, it is harder losing weight which stinks, which led me to thinking that with all of the healthy things that I eat, I should feel really good about myself and I don’t, which is why being in recovery for an eating disorder is still a lot of work mentally and emotionally. Why am I so vain???!!!!!

Well an eating disorder is not about vanity per se, it is much bigger than that; it is really about self-worth, control or loss of control, dealing with change that is bigger than you and a ton of other things that exist very deep within your psyche. No matter how faithfully I tend to my regimen of writing, reading, cooking, tending to my plants and my family, I am still plagued by these demons. I have read that my age group of 40’s to 50’s has a tendency to fall back into the eating disorder rut due to an upheaval of those crazy hormones. I suppose that this is a ride that I am going to have to weather and as long as I remain mindful, I will be fine”ish”.

Historic snowstorm in New York

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Buffalo, postaday2014, snow

I live on the same latitudinal plane as Albany New York and I am so very glad that I dodged the snow laden bullet that has hit Buffalo New York. They call it a Lake effect snowstorm, but I have never heard of a five foot snowstorm of this intensity due only from the interaction of moisture, wind velocity and directionality. I am so happy that Blandford is still relatively bare, it may be cold but we are snowless for now and I hope that it stays that way.

Imagine waking up to that?! Where do you put it all? How and where do you start? Those poor Buffalonians. 😦

Maman not happy :(

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new growth, postaday2014, sandwich, snow

I woke up this morning to this; snow covered driveway, lawn and garden beds. After all that cleanup, not only did I tidy up the backyard, but I had swept away all of the protective cover that was shielding my delicate new growth. I am not very happy with our Northeast weather today. Spring is always a delicate time for flowering plants, after the especially long and harsh winter that we have had, they don’t need any more stress, the poor babies.

I am hoping that in the next few days, when the temperatures come back up to more acceptable levels, any damage may be reversed. New growth can easily die from frost bite and I am hoping that this is not the case with my nascent daffodils. I am keeping my fingers crossed.

On another note, after breakfast this morning, I had my usual oatmeal, I was looking through my e-mails and reading my latest installment from Paris Breakfasts; it is a daily newsletter that brings a little bit of Paris to my doorstep everyday. Today for some reason, reading through Paris Breakfasts gave me a hankering for a very common French sandwich, a sandwich of butter and saucisson on a baguette, saucisson being dry salami or cured sausage, it sounds so simple, but trust me the marriage between cold butter and the salty cured saucisson surrounded by the crusty and delicious French bread is beyond just good, it is mouthwateringly great. This hankering would not go away so I made do with what I had in the kitchen. I took my rye bread, spread some butter and luckily I still had some prosciutto, threw that on top of the butter and ta da, I had my sandwich, not the exact replica, but it did what my tastebuds wanted, satisfied that hankering for a sliver of France. It was good eats.

Snow, now. REALLY?!

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postaday2014, snow, winter

This morning I woke up to falling snow and it is still falling. Last night they did say something about overnight snowfall, but I figured that it would be flurries and would blow over by morning. We are in Virginia after all. It is much farther south than Massachusetts.

It makes me laugh at myself, thinking that by being in Virginia, we would escape any lingering hints of winter that are left. Here I was hoping to enjoy some 50 or even 60 degree weather, but no we are in the 30’s and when we leave to go back up north, we will be driving back to cold.

Winter and cold weary.
Here is a hopeful song, hint it has something to do with sun. 🙂

Here comes the sun, finally!

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postaday2014, snow, temperatures, warm, weather

Happy days for me, an entire day with sunlight and warm temperatures. It is a toasty 40 degrees here in Boston and the sun is shining, it’s as if the snowstorm that we drove in yesterday had never happened. There are drips falling everywhere in Boston, melting snow hooray! Maybe there is an end in sight to this snow happy winter. So far the temperature forecast for the next week is in the mid 40’s, a long overdue break from the freezing mode that we have been stuck in, I have a big smile on my face with that piece of welcome news. Jack is happy too, the poor baby really doesn’t like to be cold.

I’m sure that the baby boy is happy that the snow is melting back home and I know that down in Miami, the baby girl is most likely wearing shorts today. The warm light is just at the end of the tunnel of winter, we are almost there just a few more weeks to go. 🙂

ooh are my muscles achy

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postaday2014, skiing, slopes, snow, trails

Yesterday and today, my sister, niece, nephew and I hit the slopes at Blandford Ski are; I have never skied better snow conditions ever. For the Northeast, this snow cover was exceptional, not a single inch of ice anywhere. My sister and I kept on saying as we skied down the slope, how amazing the snow conditions were and our mother would have been so happy skiing these trails, not stressing over ice, just relaxing and letting her skies flow down the mountain.

My nephew who is seven, got two lessons spaced out over the two days and today, it really came together for him; he graduated to the lift and he was so proud of himself when he got off the lift without any help and didn’t fall. He is probably one of the most enthusiastic little boys that I have ever met, even when he would fall down, there would be an easygoing smile on his face. He melts my heart with that beautiful smile of his.

My niece is quite independent for her almost eleven years; she definitely goes to the beat of her own drum. She reminds me quite a bit of my baby girl and I tell my sister quite often that she will not have to worry about her when she gets older; it will just be challenging in the meantime. When one of your kids is firecely independent, it’s challenging tying to keep the group together, especially when the other child isn’t on the same level of skill as everyone else.

I love being with my little sister, it brings back a lot of great and happy memories and being with my niece and nephew reminds me of my two when they were little. And just their ages makes them fun to hang around with, they make me laugh with their spontaneity and imaginative tales.

But all of the exercise and neglected muscles are starting to stiffen up, tomorrow will be a tough day, my muscles will be yelling at me, they have already started moaning and groaning, that might be me getting up and picking my arm up, bending over, moving my legs up and down the stairs. Oh boy, skiing once a year is not the best thing to do if you don’t like sore muscles. I don’t like skiing alone and it seems that my hubby and I always have something else to do on the weekends. This is why I love having my sister come up to Blandford for skiing, it gives us great alone time with her two and it gets me on the slopes.

Feeling old, but feeling very happy.

More than just a winter wonderland

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postaday2014, snow, storm

It looks more like a winter storm, not a winter wonderland. I have officially had more than enough of snow and freezing temperatures. Poor Jack won’t even go outside, we took him outside in the back while my hubby and the baby boy were getting the snowblower revved up and Jack wound up in the safety of the Jacuzzi room, his little sanctuary against the elements. According to the weather reports we might have snow for the next few days. Spring hurry, we need you!

You see, I wasn’t exaggerating. Craziness I tell you. Thank goodness for my hubby and the baby boy, if I was left to my own devices today, I don’t think that I would have ventured out to shovel just yet. I’d just accept the snow and deal with it later tomorrow. Or the next day, or the day after that.

Pancakes for dinner

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coffee, cold, pancakes, postaday2014, snow

On the way down to Virginia, somehow in our rush to get ready, pack the car and just get on the road. I forgot to eat lunch. Driving down through Connecticut, New York and then New Jersey; my stomach didn’t even growl once. It wasn’t until we hit sundown and snow started to fall in Delaware, and driving got harder, that my tummy started to rumble. My hubby talked into his phone; summoning Siri, asking her where the nearest IHOP was located. The nearest International House of Pancakes was perfectly located just 3 miles off I-95; easy on, easy off. We pulled in and we both ordered a small stack with coffee. There are those times when pancakes just seem to hit the perfect spot; a pat of butter on top that I split into small pieces and applied those little pieces on each of the five layers of pancake and then, of course, a boatload of maple syrup; not the pure stuff from Canada, no, the thick sugary sweet stuff that you find in the supermarket. My throat is always irritated and for the few minutes that I eat pancakes loaded with the sweet syrup, the soft pancake swaddled in syrup just glides down my throat and makes it feel so much better. It was a very satisfying dinner, especially with the snowfall and the cold. The pancakes with the coffee, really hit the spot.

Home safe and sound

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postaday2014, roads, safety, snow

Today, Wednesday, the Northeast got hit with another snowstorm. Us, being in Virginia this morning or really until 3:00 this afternoon, saw none of the snow, only freezing rain this morning. By the time we headed out of Virginia, the roads were dry and safe and we were making excellent time driving up north.

Granted we were driving towards the snow but as the miles came and went through Virginia, Maryland, Delaware and finally New Jersey, we still hadn’t seen a bit of snow. I wasn’t unhappy with that, au contraire, it made driving very easy.

We didn’t see serious snow until we got on the Henry Hudson and even then the roads were clear. New York State did an excellent job of keeping their roads safely clear and maintained. Heading into Connecticut, we were extremely lucky that all along route 84 there wasn’t any snow falling and that it had been plowed earlier, so it was still safe. We also lucked out on route 8, it still wasn’t snowing and it was only towards the very end, after we had passed two police cars with their lights on stopped, blocking a crashed car off the side of route 8, that the roads had started to get slick due to falling snow.

Connecticut is the second wealthiest state per capita, but its actual state budget is close to the red each and every winter because due to their low tax rate, they never have enough in the coffers to keep their roads plowed in the winter. As I was driving, I couldn’t wait to hit the Massachusetts line because I knew that we would be home free, even if the snow started coming down harder. And I was correct, the line of demarcation between Massachusetts and Connecticut is astounding to see, it is literally a difference of two inches in depth of snow versus clean and salted black top. I love driving in Massachusetts in the winter because our state highway personnel really take care of our roads, we may have higher taxes, but I prefer to drive safely over ending up in a horrendous accident. It is really a matter of priorities; invest together in the common good for everyone or have more money individually and have dangerous roads. I prefer safety.

Not a Winter Wonderland after all oops

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Christmas, postaday2013, snow, winter

I was a little hasty last week when I pronounced a Winter Wonderland for this year.

We are back to brownish grass and overcast, gloomy skies, a little sad for Christmas. Today in Blandford it was a balmy 60 and Jack and I went outside for a long walk around Blandford. Do I miss the snow? Not really, I only miss the strategically placed snows, the snow that would adorn the great pine trees and the dead grass along the side of the roads. Otherwise I am quite happy that the ice and snow are gone from the driveway and the roads that we drive on, if only because it makes for much safer driving conditions.

I was reading in the Huffington Post earlier today that yesterday Central Park in New York went up to 70, a record breaker, yet in the midwest there were frigid conditions and the difference between the two were making for tornado like events to happen.

Tomorrow we will see temperatures in the 50’s and then on Tuesday we will dip back down to the 20’s and then by next Friday we will be going back up into the 30’s. Personally I would be happy to be at a constant 50, instead of this back and forth of surging and then dipping, you get dizzy trying to regulate the thermostat.

I know that one who talks about the weather doesn’t have much to talk about or so they say, I’m not too sure who “they” is that is saying it, but that is what I have heard. In this instance, however our weather is a little on the weird side, so I feel justified in speaking about it, especially since just last week I was all excited about the Winter Wonderland for this year. I honestly didn’t see our losing all of our snow just days before Christmas, coming. I would not have bet money on this bet, that’s for sure.