There may be snow on the ground – and evidently more in the forecast – but there is a promise of Spring on my table, a sweet gift from my precious daughter. These are Long Life tulips from Bloomaker. They will be a gorgeous shade of pink and I am looking forward to seeing them bloom!
My daughter purchased one for me and one for herself as she, too, looks forward to Spring and planting all 32 varieties of vegetables and herbs that she has ordered! Her plans are to rent two large gardening plots in a local gardening co-op. My beautiful, artistic, athletic daughter has turned into a homesteading, cooking-everything-from-scratch goumet cook! She would love a farm on ten acres or more! Maybe that will be in the not too distant future.
In the meantime, we’ll watch our tulips grow and wait for Spring in the midst of an Iowa Winter…
I long for Spring. I long for warm sunshine and a thermometer that proudly proclaims 72 degrees. Granted, I’m not a fan of hot, humid Summers. I would be happy if there were just two seasons – Spring and Fall!
Native Iowans sagely comment that “it’s been a mild Winter”. Two snowstorms and a few other snows here and there were enough for me, thank you. Evidently, it isn’t over. This morning, it is cold and windy and the thermometer appears stuck at 10 degrees! We’ve been warned that “a ‘blizzard’ is coming tomorrow about noon (they can now predict the time?!) and will last until the following day with heavy accumulation”!
So, yesterday I reconciled myself to the fact I’d better prepare just in case. I headed out in yesterday’s 18 degrees accompanied by a brisk wind and the bright sunshine that fooled me into thinking that it was warmer. I went first to the wonderful library about 3 miles away and stocked up on a stack of knitting books and the new book by Earlene Fowler. I have 8 new skeins of wonderful yarn for my next project after I finish this one.
The large, wonderful West Des Moines library. Designed in a Craftsman style…
Next, it was to Walgreen’s to refill a prescription and stock up on a few toiletries. The last stop was the grocery store. Milk in a glass bottle, bread, a whole roasted chicken, a dozen eggs, organic mixed lettuce and a few other things. Last night was roast chicken with my meal…today I will make chicken salad with it. I also baked the Ozark Mountain Apple Cake last night. If I’m going to be “snowbound”, I may as well have dessert, huh?!
I hope wherever you are, you’re staying warm and enjoying these days before Spring eventually comes…
A friend from high school posted the youtube video clip below on Facebook. It reminded me of a post that I had written about coming home from college for Christmas in that very same 1963 snowstorm! Thought I’d share the post here and give you a first hand look at what I was describing in the video below…
The days on the calendar flew quickly by. Thanksgiving had come and gone, and I was looking forward to a nice long break at Christmas. I was tired and “run down”, to use one of Mama’s expressions, after a bout with strep throat and a high fever. I had even managed to spend a few days and nights as a patient at the infirmary where I worked. The Christmas break would give me a chance to rest and catch up on all the school work I’d fallen behind on…not to mention preparing for the finals the week after my return to school. Not the best way to spend Christmas vacation, but I was thankful for the time.
It snowed the day before we were to leave for Christmas break. A deep blanket of white covered the campus. Icicles hung from the chapel and other buildings and weighed heavily on the tree branches. Everything glistened in the bright sunlight. It was a winter wonderland in the deep South. No one had come prepared with boots but we still tromped in the snow, throwing snowballs at one another and basically acting thirteen again. It added to the excitement of going home.
I was riding home with Sandra, one of my friends from Memphis, who was also a freshman there. Her boyfriend Mike had come down to drive us back to Memphis. It seems there was someone else with us on the trip…but I can’t quite remember who it was. I gently remind myself that it has been forty-five years.
It continued to snow all that day, and the roads had turned into a solid sheet of ice. Driving was reported to be treacherous at best. Under normal circumstances, the trip took four hours. We left school about eleven o’clock in the morning right after our last class. It didn’t take long, or very many miles, to know we were not looking forward to this trip. Mike was a good driver but totally inexperienced driving in snow; and now the snow had been packed under a sheet of ice.
I remember vividly that, at first, there was talk and laughter among us on the trip…and then silence as we realized how dangerous it was. We must have only been traveling about 20 miles per hour, but more than once, we slipped and slid totally across the road and into what would have been oncoming traffic…had anyone else been there. We passed dozens of vehicles abandoned on the side of the road or, even worse, wrecked. There were very few stores open and we needed to stop for gas. We also needed to get some food and something warm to drink. Unfortunately, this was before cell phones so we had no way to call our parents or anyone if, indeed, we were to need help.
We finally found a store open and bought some sandwiches and hot chocolate. We also filled the tank with gas. I remember calling my dad collect at that point. He said to find some where to buy chains for the car and that he would pay for them along with the gas. Luckily, we did find a store open and managed to get chains to fit. A little while longer and we were back on the road. The chains did help some, but it was still rough going. Twelve hours after leaving school, we pulled up to my front door. We were all exhausted but glad to be home.
Since that long ago journey, I’ve lived in Illinois and Iowa where it snows a lot. I’ve driven in snowstorms and blizzards with white-out conditions. I’ve driven on sheets of ice. Yet each time I do, I’m transported back in time to a car full of college kids trying their best to get home for Christmas…
Snow fell last night. I awoke to a beautiful blanket of white…over a foot deep. Snow was banked high against the doors of the garages and the tarmac looked icy. Only one garage had been shoveled out – that of a young man about the age of my younger son. (Most of the people living here are retired.) I wondered what this young man does for a living that required his being out in this.
Of course, I remember the days of snow storms and severe thunderstorms of years past before I became a “retired” Registered Nurse. It didn’t matter what the weather was…I had to be there. I’ll never forget coming out of the hospital one January night after midnight. It was -18 degrees and snowing like crazy. A few of the nurses had automatic starters and stood at the window on our floor, pointed it in the direction of the parking lot and started their automobile. They came out to a nice warm vehicle. I didn’t have one! I just prayed my automobile would start…thankfully, it did. I’m glad that my little 154,000 mile Camry is now parked in “her” garage. Maybe not warm – but dry.
Snow always brings back memories. Sledding with the kids, building forts and snowmen, snow “cream” with vanilla and sugar (we didn’t know to worry back then and were always careful where we got the snow for it!). If I could get to my daughter’s house right now, I could be playing in the snow with my grandchildren as I did during a visit a couple of years ago. I’m sure there will be plenty of snow here in the Midwest and time for that over the next few months!
The featured photo above was taken on March 22, 1968. Sixteen inches of snow had fallen in a rare snow storm in Memphis, Tennessee! I wrote it about it in My Southern Heart…the Stories. I wrote My Southern Heart…the Stories for my children and last Christmas published it in book form for them and the rest of my family.
Over the river and through the woods, to Aunt Penny’s house we go…
Actually, it was eleven hours by interstate and the prairie farm backroads of Iowa, Missouri and Arkansas…but the end result was definitely worth it! It had been two long years since we’dall been together in one place…my children, my grandchildren and myself. Not since the summer of 2010 when we all met in Chicago. At that time, my oldest and his family were returning home from almost 7 years on the medical mission field in Peru.
Thanksgiving 2012…and all my precious grandchildren
We all drove from three different directions to meet in Memphis…where I had grown up…where my children were born and, sadly, where their father is buried. My children’s paternal Aunt Penny and Uncle Mike graciously hosted our family in Memphis…along with their three sons, wives and four grandchildren. Thank you, Aunt Penny and Uncle Mike! We love you! My oldest and his wife are host parents to a fourteen year old South Korean foreign exchange student this school year so this was her first Thanksgiving. Altogether, there were 27 of us there for the Thanksgiving feast! It was a wonderful Thanksgiving and I found myself wishing more than once that their Dad could have been their with us…no doubt he was in spirit.
On Friday night, my niece Sharon and her husband joined us for a fun Corky’s Barbecue dinner. Delicious food and fun fellowship! Sharon and Tommy’s son and his wife and their two children stopped by to see us. They were headed to the Christmas tree lighting at their church so they couldn’t stay for Corky’s. It was so good to see them!
I loved watching all my grandchildren playing together and sometimes pairing off by age and interests. It thrilled me to see the love (and talent for) art in all my grandchildren as well as the love of music. Four grandchildren are superb on the piano and one plays the violin beautifully. (I know I sound just like a grandmother – what can I say?! It’s true all the same.) The love of books and reading was evident as well.
I was in grandmother heaven until it came time to say goodbye to each one…then I was a crybaby. Now, it will mean flights to see my sons and their families…and waiting until we are all together again. Thankfully, for my daughter and four of my grandchildren, I can just get in the car and drive 14 minutes. 😉
To see more of the Thanksgiving crazy fun, enjoy the slideshow below! Just click the arrows to forward or reverse pics.
P.S. For those of you who asked for them, the cookie recipes are now at the bottom of the previous post! 😉
