Just Keep Snowing...Just Keep Snowing

We are just starting out on the most recent "snowpocalypse" to be forecast with the typical accompanying hysteria and panic shopping.  This one is different, however, because the Weather Channel saw fit to give it a name - NEMO.  This makes it easier to track on Twitter & other social media - I get that - but NEMO?  Seriously?

I'm sitting here writing this fresh out of the shower and with wet hair. After listening to

[caption id="attachment_2848" align="alignright" width="219"] Note Use of Local Dialect[/caption]

sustained winds HOWL for the past hour I thought it would be prudent to scrub down, shampoo and dry my hair while we still had power.  I'm not one for panic shopping (bread, milk and eggs are de rigueur out here) because we keep a pretty well stocked pantry and I've never had a craving for French toast during a blizzard.  If it weren't for the nagging fear of losing power I'd be happy as a lark.  I love a good blizzard as long as I'm safe, warm and have access to charging devices like my iPad.

Not sure how this storm will shake out but all signs point to "very bad" and I worry about people who are not safe or warm. Let's all worry about them instead of preempting TV shows to announce another inch of snow has fallen and that everything closed is still closed.

Chainsaw Sunday

I have no idea when it happened, but I'm getting all bent out of shape over the loss of.......trees.  We had four beautiful flowering plum trees in our front yard; 3 of them were knocked down in the storm of 1991 (AKA "The Perfect Storm").  We uprighted all three, but only one survived the trauma.  (We live on an enormous granite ledge here on Cape Ann, so trees are kind of root-challenged. )  Anyway, fast forward to last weekend's storm where the surviving flowering plum tree bought the farm.  The picture on the left is a peach tree in our backyard that fell down during a storm in June.  It was the last of our 20-something-year-old peach trees - no home-grown cobblers, pies or crisps this summer. How sad is that?

We had Chainsaw Sunday here, as trees all over the neighborhood were being finished off and/or  cut from power lines (by the professionals) and it was heartbreaking.  Huge, towering pine trees, 40 and 50 years old - snapped like twigs. We've had blocked streets and power losses on and off for the past several days.  Some of the trees lost were the centerpiece of a front yard, some stood guard on corners, all have left gaping holes.

Property damage can be remedied by insurance and a good contractor.  Where do you to go get a fully grown tree?  You cannot.  They are like wondrous spirits, they have a living presence and are with us through every season, every year, every event of your life.  I never used to get upset about losing trees - now I feel like I am losing a bit of history,  constancy, and shelter.  Now that they are gone, we are cutting them and stacking them for firewood. See - they are still useful, sheltering things.  It's going to be a melancholy March, as the cleanup continues......