15 HOURS OF DIFFERENCE

Yesterday was a lovely warm day during which lots of snow melted and some got chopped away preparatory to weather reports actually being accurate (which they seem to be these days, more often than not). We were to expect a 8" to 12" of snow during the night. In the morning, schools had been canceled and once again the 'weathercasters' didn't disappoint.

Today, approximately 15 hours after the above picture, things in Nature were looking decidedly different. There are not too many things lovelier to watch (from the warmth inside the house) than fresh, clean white snow. However, in this semi-urban area, the whiteness is gone after a few blinks of the eye. A few snowplows, a bit of traffic, a few dogs being walked, it doesn't take much to turn the landscape into something that no longer resembles a postcard. It took several hours to shovel the parking area and walks and to clean off the cars.

During the shoveling, the power went off. Things weren't as beautiful to look at after the shoveling, the now dirty snow piles, and a house getting colder and colder while trying to decide what to do without electricity. It doesn't take long to realize that everything you had planned for the day requires an electrical appliance, light, or a computer. Since there is still an upright piano in the house, fairly in tune, that got its first workout in a long time.

Before I had sunk to the gutter of total power-withdrawal symptoms, panic, and all....the power company managed to return normalcy back to my life, well, at least that which passes for normalcy in MY life.