Dear Committee for the Distribution of Snow,
I write to you today to beseech you to give my area, the Pioneer Valley of Western Massachusetts, a snow day tomorrow.
I do not ask this idly, because it would give me a break from work (it would) and let me catch up on my truly terrible XSLT project (also true), but because I think I would in fact use it well. My proposed schedule, should I be given a snow day tomorrow:
- sleep in a little, naturally, but only to properly appreciate the merits of a wool blanket and a snugglesome dog
- attempt said XSLT homework over a hot breakfast
- snowshoe with packs, as part of Dales Way Training Week 2, which is ever so much more fun than running two miles at the gym
- cultivate a renewed love for my work as an underutilized servant of the Commonwealth
- catch up on cooking and cleaning
Note that, even in the Octobrrr Blizzard of ‘11, I have not yet had a snow day off from work this winter, and have only used my snowshoes once. We live in New England. Isn’t it only fair?
Respectfully,
Katherine
PS—My dog would enjoy it immensely.
J played a trick on Bonnie and knocked a branch’s worth of snow on to her.
As you can see in the second picture, she quickly regained her dignity.
8 events I’m thankful for in 2011 (8 days before Thanksgiving)
- Our first really snowy winter. 2009 was a bit of a dud year, so it was fun to get some real snow. If you’re going to live in New England, you might as well have war stories to tell.
- This fall, my sister and her enormous-footed boyfriend moved to Brooklyn, just a few hours south of us. Since then, we’ve visited them once, and she’s visited us once. We’ll see them both next week for Thanksgiving and my birthday, and it’s lovely to have family so close again.
- Storms. The hurricane in August and snow storm last month both meant for that best kind of mildly inconvenient hospitality, the kind that builds friendships. Deb stayed with us; we stayed with Ian’s family; Steve stayed with us. And they are all great visits, despite the circumstances.
- The birth of our godson, Augustine James.
- My childhood friend Layne’s wedding to a really great guy.
- Another childhood friend, Cassi, is marrying her high school sweetheart, and I get to stand up with them.
- Our extended tour of the South before and after Layne’s wedding. We got to see nearly all our family and Southern friends, listen to a half-dozen books on CD, and sweat a whole, whole lot.
- A really intense (for me) camping trip with Jess and Ben. It really helped us to grow closer as friends, and reminded me not to be such a mouse — a lesson I need to relearn every few months.
We were stuck, but fortunately Hardwick is a friendly little community.
Colleen’s good friend Sarah (pictured) has a handy boyfriend who’d spent two hours excavating her car for a coffee run, and the couple kindly lent it to us so we could make it to mass, all the way across the state in Andover.
We hastily loaded up the little CRV, and set off.
I have Internet! And light! And a charged laptop! (OK, so none of these things are yet available at home, but it’s a start.) So now it’s story time. Sunday was Augustine’s baptism. We’d been looking forward to it for months. I’d gotten some killer fairy godmother wings (or, you know, a dry cleaned dress) and a ridiculous/wonderful stuffed St. Augustine toy and we were set. The hitch, of course, was that Saturday night was the HalloweeNor’easter. The Octobrrrr. A very big storm. We woke early Sunday morning, twelve hours into power loss, at the Callahans’ house. Despite the fact that we weren’t going to be able to shower and that we were stuck with cereal for breakfast, we were pretty cheerful, especially once Augustine was in his hilarious winter suit.
Early spring? I doubt it. LOOK OUTSIDE.
Choosing to be excited about being snowed in for the second day in a row today, rather than squirrelly. (Mixed results.)
(via jennyjennybobenny)
training buses should not be allowed to run their training sessions on days this cold.
It’s heartbreaking to stand, stomping your feet for warmth, and realize the approaching bus is running a sign that reads NO PASSENGERS.
Sinky.
Enjoying herself immensely.
Bonnie was starting to think snow would never come.
