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Friday, March 09, 2007

Snow
It won't be long before we'll all be there with snow
Snow
I want to wash my hands, my face and hair with snow
Snow
I long to clear a path and lift a spade of snow
Snow
Oh, to see a great big man entirely made of snow
-- Irving Berlin "Snow"

Wasn't I just writing about spring weather? No, it didn't snow that much this week. The above photo is from Christmas 2004, right before Kate was born, and is a bit of a blur for me. If we didn't have the snapshot to prove it, I'm not sure I'd remember that it happened. India was 18 months old, I was 7 months pregnant, and very sick with bronchitis.
This recent snowfall was not nearly so dramatic. Lots of flakes but just a dusting on the ground. The flurries fell off and on for 2 days and was very exciting to the Short People, who just can't understand why folks in books and on TV are able to sled and build snowmen but they cannot. Even if it did snow enough here, it is flat as a pancake so sledding is not really possible. Snowmen...I suppose it happens now and then. Shells for eyes, I think?
The Short People love to hear Tracy and I tell them about sledding where we grew up. My neighborhood had fabulous sledding parties with bonfires, roasted marshmallows, and thermoses of hot chocolate. My senior year of high school our county received so much snow that we missed almost a month of school. My best friend and I had several sledding parties (Mike, if you are reading...remember those?). One of my neighbors and I used to build ramps and dare each other to ride down, and I have great memories of using a tractor tire inner tube to load six or seven people "pyramid" style and go down that way. We did most of our sledding in a field with horses, and it's a miracle that neither people nor animals were injured in these adventures. They were some of the best times from my childhood, and lack of snow and sledding is one of the saddest things about living on the Eastern Shore. I suppose we'll have to visit Tracy's brother in Abingdon (Hi, Brian!) so the girls can experience the excitement of playing in the snow.
If the other Turman girls are reading, then HAPPY BIRTHDAY GILLIAN!!!!! We love you and hope to visit soon.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I loved riding those big tractor tires in the snow...maybe one day it'll happen again. If we ever get any snow. It is still hard for me to believe we went an entire winter with no serious white stuff. I know it is just going to confuse my brain season wise. Next year it will snow like hell and I will have lost all my snow skills.

Is that your house? It is beautiful if it is! I love it!

The Turmanators said...

Yes, that's our house. The front was built in 1835, with additions off the back in 1890, 1900, and 1985. We love it, too! Stuff is always falling apart but we just glue it back on and keep going. It's like a part of the family.

Anonymous said...

You live in a great place in a great house with a great family! You are quite blessed!

Anonymous said...

I was always jealous of the Stuart snow sledding fun. We had hills in Claudville, sure, but everyone lived too far apart to get together when the roads had snow on them. Then when school started back we had to hear about all the fun the Stuart kids had during the break.

I'm sad that Ben didn't get to play in the snow as a three year old. The way they play changes so much each year.

That's a great photo of your house.