Wednesday, December 16, 2020

Snow fences.

One of my most vivid early memories is a winter when we lived in Townville - a very small village in northwestern Pennsylvania. We lived on top of a hill with our driveway carved into the side of a small hill. I must have been 5 or 6 at the time, I don't think I was in school. But I remember playing out in the huge snowdrifts that formed right outside the door to the mudroom. Because we lived on a hill and were surrounded by cornfields, the wind would whip the snow into places that were extremely inconvenient. I can remember our driveway being completely filled in with snow. My dad and mom would put up snow fences or wind breaks, as an effort to keep the driveway and parking area a little more open. But the snow drifts that form by the snow fences were huge! At least they were to 5-year-old me. It's funny, those memories. I remember wearing a light blue snowsuit that was a little tight. I had mittens that clipped onto the sleeves of my jacket. Ugh, I can also remember sucking the snow off of my mittens and that awful texture of acrylic yard - I remember as if it was yesterday! I also remember visiting my grandmother who lived in town - right across from my uncle's funeral home. For Christmas, my uncle used to set up this little church with stained glass windows and painted with sparkles. It played Christmas music too and had a real bell in the steeple. I can remember standing there looking at it with my dad one night when we were visiting grandma and I asked him why the air smelled like styrofoam. He told me that what I smelled was cold - frigid cold. Too this day when the air is still, the night is dark, and it is cold, cold, cold, I can still smell that smell and it takes me right back to my uncle's little musical, magical church.

Busy summer

So much for keeping up with this blog! Seems like there is always something to do and for that, I am very grateful! We finally have rain - i...