Snowed in

I guess I won't be sitting on the patio and knitting any time soon. We had over six inches of snow yesterday afternoon and evening, and last night the wind picked up and blew it into big drifts all around the yard.


We aren't really snowed in here, since the snow plowing crew is very competent and quick, but I like to pretend we are. It reminds me of growing up in the country, where we sometimes missed up to a week of school at a time because the roads were too hazardous for the bus to get through. I would mostly lie in bed and reread all the Little House books when this happened, with more-than-occasional trips to the kitchen for peanut butter sandwiches and chips, and leftover fried chicken, and anything else I could find. I'm sure I'm not the only person who gets hungry while reading Farmer Boy and The Long Winter.

The snow has its hazards, of course. Yesterday my 22-year-old cousin Scott, while driving to school, slid onto the highway and was broadsided by a truck. He will be okay, but he has a broken pelvis and femur and his lung was partially collapsed. We've obviously been very worried about him, but last night we heard that when his mother asked him how he was feeling, he answered, "Like I've been hit by a truck," and winked at her. That's Scott.

Instead of reading while the snow fell yesterday afternoon, I worked on the red mittens and finally completed one that I actually like. I plan to finish its mate today; I wish I'd had them both done this morning while I was out shoveling paths in the eleven-degree weather. But now I guess I'll give them as a gift, no matter how tempting it may be to keep them myself!