White On White

So there was some snow.

I generally disregard warnings about snow. Usually there's a lot of noise about snow, people rush to the grocery store and get into fistfights over bread and milk. They clobber each other trying to get to gas pumps. And then it snows two inches and life continues.

So when the forecast called for lots and lots of snow and everyone started to talk about working from home, I spoke up and said I was coming in.

It snowed three feet.

Less than a week later, it snowed again.

And then again.

In fact, we've been averaging about two snowstorms a week.

The trouble is, it's also cold. This means the snow doesn't melt. It just piles on top of itself. People push it to the side to clear driveways and roads, making walls of snow on either side. Pulling out of a driveway is a game a chance because you can't see the street.

I'm done. It's halfway through the month and I'm done with winter. I'm ready for spring and sand and warm air and sun on my face.

Got Snow?

Old snow + New snow =   a lot of freakin' snow.

I hate snow. Right now. I hate snow, I hate snow days. I hate delayed openings and I hate early release days.

I hate snow boots and snow pants and mitten and gloves, and how easily they are left at school or on the bus or in the car. I hate how wet they get.

I hate how the driveways needs plowing, only now there's no place to put the snow because the banks are higher than my head.

I hate how every time it snows I think "This will be the last one this year," only a few days later we get another 8 inches.

I hate the color white. Or grey.

And Now, Week 2!

I survived the first week.

It was horrible. I mean, really just stressful and horrible and nervous and tense. I freaked out and felt pressured and didn't think I'd ever be able to pull it off. I was sure my kids felt abandoned, that they'd never forgive me, that my house would never be clean again.

And then came Friday.

Friday we had Unexpected Snow in the morning.
It was also Violin Day, so I had to drive the boys to the school so that Nick could make his 7:30 am violin class.

I used to stay with Nate and Andy until 8:20, when I am formally allowed to drop them off. But because I need to be at work at 8:30, I now have to turn the car around and drive back home so that Nate and Andy can get the bus at 8am, which will immediately take them back to the place they have just left.

It's so stupid. I feel bad for the boys. But that's how it has to be.

Except not this past friday.

Because of the Unexpected Snow.

See, Unexpected Snow causes traffic on the highway. It gets slippery. And suddenly a 10 minutes drive takes twenty.

I dropped Nick off and fled back to the car, determined to meet the bus so I could be at work on time. Ten minutes later I was a mile down the road. No one was moving.

And that's when I did it. You know what you do when you're so caught up in something, and you're so stressed out you can hardly stand it, but you have absolutely no control over the situation?

Um... I don't know the word for this. I want to say "make peace with it," because that's kind of what it is, but that sounds so hippy dippy and not at all like what you do. It's more like flipping a switch. It's more like me ranting and raving and flailing my arms around like a muppet and suddenly making a choice to just be late.

"You know what?" I said to my two quiet younger boys in the backseat. "This is the way it is. There's traffic. There's nothing I can do about it. And you guys need to get to school. There's nothing I can do about that. So I'll be late. Big deal. If that doesn't work for them, then there's nothing I can do about that, either."

I was there before my boss, who showed up all frazzled and frustrated. I was there before my co-worker (but that's not fair. She's 90 minutes away on a good day.)

And suddenly I feel a lot better about the whole thing. I will be as prepared as possible. I"ll do everything I can to make things run smoothly. But stressing out only stresses the boys out. We're all tired. We don't have enough time together. I want to make the time we DO have together be as unstressful as possible.

So... I've been calm today. I feel good tonight. I feel good about the week. I'm sure it will go more smoothly than last week.

Optimism.

Raindrops Are Falling

FINE Then! Yes. You can go play in the rain.

Andy & Nate 2013

Andy 2013

Nick 2013

Water Park

The kids bugged me to take them to Canobie Lake Park.

I didn't want to. It's not far. It's about fifteen minutes from our home, actually. Storyland is 3 hours north, and we've been there every single year since we can remember. But Storyland is geared toward tiny people. Canobie specializes in the types of rides that leave you brain damaged. Or that you actually have to be mental to go on.

Strap me into a tube and swing me 14 stories into the air while spinning me around backwards and twirling the whole thing upside down? Sure! Let me just grab lunch first.

I first went to Canobie Lake Park with my friends Julie and Betsy.  I thought Julie was lying when she said there was an amusement park up in NH. I seem to remember getting there late, going into the maze, winning some prize at the arcade, and then riding this raft water ride eleven billion times. In street clothes. Oh, and Betsy went on her first roller coaster?

This time, Nate wanted to go on everything, but Andy was too short, and Nick was too nervous to go on the roller coasters by himself. I talked him into going on the Pirate Ship Swing thing with Nate, and he said that was enough.

Convinced I could be Cool Mom, I drove the race cars with the boys, and then took them on the Twist and Shout ride. Like a tilt-a-whirl. I laughed for a minute, and then got that nauseous feeling. Seriously, these days a carousel gets me dizzy. I am officially a grown up, and can no longer enjoy bouncy spinny brain scrambles.

But there was one thing there we all really enjoyed. It was 100 outside. So, so hot. The hottest day of the year. Trust me, no matter who you were, you wanted to be right there.

Canobie Lake Park, 2013
Castaway Island

Whether there will be Weather

In Norton Juster's The Phantom Tollbooth our hero Milo runs across the Whether Man. Not the Weather Man.

Because, as he says, it's more important to know whether there will be weather than what the weather will be.

Last week we had a day that was so warm in the morning we got fog. A lot of fog. We couldn't even see the brook.

fog in the backyard

And then it got cold. Again. Brr.

They are predicting up to two feet of snow for tomorrow. We better get snow, or we will suffer the wrath of kids denied their rightful snow day.

In the meantime, I'm bumping up my weekly grocery run to today, just so I can experience the joy of hundreds of cranky people shoving each other for milk and hot dogs and bottled water.

And then I'm going to watch TV until my brain melts. Once the snow comes, I mean.

Frankenstorm

We're supposed to get another storm.

Last year we had a big storm before Halloween. Remember that storm? It looked like this:

We had two snow days before November, and they postponed Halloween a week.

This year, it's not supposed to snow. It's supposed to wind and rain. A lot. The only comfort I can take in it as that at least we see it coming, and that maybe it won't cause too too much damage. But I'm not holding my breath because we've already gotten an email from the police department on emergency procedures and storm preparation, and one from our lovely electric company telling us we are probably almost definitely going to lose power, and to please not call them and bug them on the phone when it happens.

Not to worry, though. The boys here are practicing their magic skills, and should be able to charm us right out of the worst of it. See, here they are, in glasses and ties, the magic kind. Not the muggle kind. In a day or two, they'll be experts.

Camping

Every summer we tell the kids we're going to set up the tent and have a few sleepouts in the yard.

And every summer, in late August, we realize it's now or never.


Usually we pitch the tent close to the house, rather close to the swingset. But this year we decided to pitch it farther down. Way, way at the end of the property. Closer to the brook.

See? No? Too far away? Here. I'll zoom it for you.

There! Better?

You'll notice that there is a car next to the tent. This is because, after we pitched it, Steve realized he didn't want to carry all of the sleeping bags and pillows and books and flashlights down there all by himself. So he loaded everything into the car and drove.

They had a great night. The bigest issue was that we pitched the tent pretty close to the brook - not an issue in terms of flooding, as the brook is rather low, but we didn't want to leave the boys down there for even a second.So when a boy woke in the middle of the night needing to use the bathroom and too frightened to walk the long way across the misty lawn alone, he was kind of out of luck.

We didn't take the tent down, and a couple of nights before the first day of school I took my turn. I had giggled at Steve for taking the car down to the tent, and instead I insisted that the boys carry their own sleeping bags and headlamps. We settled in.

It wasn't too bad. Even that far away fromt he house, the wireless works, so while the boys fell asleep at 8pm I was able to read and get on the internet with my ipad. I determined yet again that I prefer sleeping in a bed with indoor plumbing a short walk away, but the boys had a great time.

And then, at around 5am, it began to rain.

It was light at first, and I was sure it would stop before the boys woke up.

It didn't.

In fact, it got harder and harder. The boys woke up and started to panic. "We're fine," I said. "We'll just wait for it to slow down or stop."

Nate looked at me, deadpan. "It's never going to stop."

The rain got harder and harder, and I knew we were going to have to leave our stuff there and make a run for it. Even so, we' d get soaked to the bone. It takes the boys forever to walk across the lawn, especially Andy, and the rain was just too unforgiving...

And that's when we heard the car.

Steve had woken up, heard the rain, and decided to save us. He drove the minivan down across the lawn to pick us up. It was 6:30 AM.

And then we had coffee and it was good.

New Life

One day it will stop raining, and I'll finally get to pop these babies in the ground.

Warm Weather

The tulips are coming up! Not only have we had an unusually warm winter, but this week we've had three days where the highs were in the 70's. The boys were running outside with no jackets, and we opened the doors to let the warm air in.

Warm weather! I want warm weather!

Say It In Writing

Seasonal Power Outage

This morning, after my alarm went off, I made the choice not to go running. I had a late choir rehearsal last night, and I wanted to get a little more sleep before I started my day. This isn't an easy choice to make, as I sometimes don't fall asleep after the alarm wakes me, and even if I do, I sometimes spend the day wishing I had taken the time to work out.

Five minutes after I turned off my snooze, I hear the dreaded blip that signifies NO POWER. We've had rain for the past few days, and last night the wind picked up. Apparently it was enough to somehow take out a power line.

Maybe it's just me, but I am now unable to not over-react to this sort of thing. In the past, a power outage would mean a few hours in the dark. But these days, each time the power goes out I start out assuming we'll be out for days. I started taking inventory in my mind. Where were the flashlights? Did they have batteries? How long would puck's insulin last in the fridge? Would there be school? How would I find out if there was school without TV or the internet? Should I wake Steve and get him to start the generator? Would the power be back when we put up the tree? Would the power be back in time for Andrew's birthday party? What if it was back for the party but not back in time for me to clean the house? Should I cancel?

I heard the boys wake up. I heard them scramble around and then make a group trip to the bathroom, Andy lighting the way with the Lego-Man Lantern. This is when I got up. I rescued a couple of flashlights and replaced batteries in one. I lit a couple of candles and gave the boys some cereal. I fed the pets and gave puck his medication.

And then the power came back on.

I feel as though my day has brightened already! Even though it's still windy and rainy.

The Story

Well, it snowed. We lost power. That was... Saturday, and into Sunday.

It's Tuesday evening as I write this.

There was no school Monday, which was officially Halloween. Our town cancelled school that day, and then postponed trick-or-treating until November 6th. We drove down to Lillian's where they DID have trick-or-treating.

School was cancelled today. I took the kids to the Museum of Science. They did have Karate and Piano lessons.

But they have already sent an email out letting us know there is no school tomorrow.

It's just November, people. Three snow days, and not even Thanksgiving.

And we still have no power. Yes, we have the generator, so we have heat and running water. Hot water, at that. But it would be nice to have lights in the bathroom. It would be nice to cook a meal on the stove or in the oven. The laundry is piling up, even with that load I did at Lillian's.

I should be used to this by now, I think. But I'm not. I'm just resigned to it.

The Cold She Comes

A few days ago I woke and looked outside my window to find the lawn crusty with white. No, it wasn't snow. It was the Frost. It had come, bringing winter with it.

And overnight, literally, the house went from dusty-but-comfortable to chilled-to-the-bone.

"Steve!" I yelled down the stairs. "I'm turning on the heat!"

"Put on a sweater!" he shouted back up at me.

And he's got a point. Once you turn the heat on, there is no turning back. And heat has simply gotten more and more expensive. We're paying four dollars a gallon for oil which is delivered every few weeks in the winter, and it costs over $400 a pop. Sometimes, when it's really cold, I've paid as mich as $700.

Our electricity goes up, too, of course.

I put on a sweater. I also went around the house making sure the storm windows were down, and in rooms we use often turning the heat up to as high as 60 degrees. Which is still pretty cold, when you think about it. But we like to be responsible and thoughtful about these things, at least until we can't stand it anymore sometime in December or January.

Today it is raining. It is currently 43 degrees, and will get as warm as 46. Tonight will be a low of 29 degrees, with a forecast of rain and snow. I need to get into the garage and move the bikes aside so I can pull in my car.

Hello, Winter. We didn't miss you a bit.

Apple Acres

The Kindergarten had a field trip to Apple Acres the other day.

It wasn't free, mind you. The school sent home a notice asking for cash to cover the cost of apple picking. It also mentioned that parents could chaperone, if they wanted, but that each chaperone had to pay as well.

I wasn't sure how this chaperone thing worked, but I know Nick was sad when I didn't go for his Kindergarten class trip (I couldn't, I had Andy at home with me) so I signed up.

It turned out there was no limit to the number of chaperones that could go. Almost half the kids had a parent there. No wonder Nick was sad I wasn't there. So many parents were there that the kids without parents were bound to feel left out.

Anyway, it was a fun trip. We got to tour apple cider making machinery, and then everyone got to pick one apple - and that was it for the fruit picking part. But the kids liked eating what they picked. Then they got to go an a hay ride - a scary, tractor pulled flat thing covered in hay. The grown-ups sat on the outside. And then we got to go on a nature walk through the trees!

It was fun. But, it was pouring rain. Instead of gradually clearing up, it gradually got worse and worse. The kids were soaked. The grown-ups were soaked. So instead of having a donut and cider at the farm, the kids got back on the bus and headed back to school. Parents, cheated from sharing the donuts, lined up and purchased apples and donuts to take home.

Now, most of the donuts they had on hand had gone to the classrooms. So the donuts the parents got were the ones right out of the... fryer, or whatever it is they use to make the donuts. They were warm and fluffy and it was by far the best donut I have ever had.

I ate it on the front porch of the store, waiting for the rain to clear. It didn't. So I dashed back to the car and just drove to the school, thinking I would read until Nathan was dismissed at 11:15.

By the time Kindergarten was over, the sun was shining and the day was drying out. Meanwhile, my socks are still wet. How unfair is that?

Also, Andrew misunderstood and thought HE was going to go Apple Picking, too. When we picked him up and found out Nate had already gone, he sobbed and demanded we go RIGHT BACK! RIGHT NOW! Of course we didn't, but it was still a sad thing for Andy.

Fall Is Here

Over the past few weeks I've noticed a few leaves on trees blushing, and the temperature at night has been cooler.

But a couple of nights ago, it got downright cold.

What's the difference? Long sleeves and a jacket. I now have to check the weather every day to know what is appropriate to dress my kids in. I don't want to put shorts on them if the high is 61 degrees. Or let them wear long sleeves if it's going to get close to 80. Suddenly I am picking out their outfits for them, and hoping they have enough warmer clothing to last them until they pick up their toys and I can reach the clothing storage bins, currently covered in toys at the back of the closet.

The when I check the weather online, there are frost advisories.... until 8am. Which means I have to think about putting my vegetable garden to bed. I am going to do that this year, so that the earth can, you know, recharge.

I'm also waiting and putting off putting in the storm windows, at least until the weather gets warm and cools again. If I time it right and nature cooperates, we can keep the heat off until late October.

Hurricane Hoopla

Most people know there was a hurricane. This hurricane, unlike so many, actually travelled up into the northern states, and the residents responded with a mixture of panic and amusement.

I have to admit, I didn't take it seriously. I saw the reports and the footage of winds and flooding in the southern states, but seriously - I live in New England. Inland. Hurricanes don't usually make it this far North, and if they do they are tired out from the trip.

But the way people were filling grocery carts with bottled water and all the D batteries disappeared from the shelves, we were about to see World War Three. So I actually began to worry.

Well, we had two days of rain. We lost power during the second day, but got it back the next morning. There was no damage to any of our trees or cars or to our home. The flooding that usually occurs in the spring, the brook that tries to make it as close to the house as it can? It didn't even show up. It's still hiding in the back. No flooding at all.

But we did get a visit from some turkeys who were less than rattled by the storm.

France

Each trip to France is a little bit different. Most things stay the same. The beach is still there. That restaurant by the beach is still there. The castle in the hills is still there. But the quality of each trip differs with the company. In other words, each vacation changes depending on who else is there when we are.

And these changes aren't black and white, or good and bad. It's just that I can see things in a new way when I am with people seeing them for the first time. Some vacations include a lot of sightseeing and driving distances, and other include massages.

This year we arrived to an empty house, and my parents arrived a few days later with some friends of theirs we had never met. Lucky for us this couple was tolerant of children, and the boys took to them. A few days after that Winston and Meg showed up, and the day Meg left Winston's girlfriend arrived. My parents left, then Winston and Giulia left, and we spent the last few days with the house to ourselves once more.

Being in the house alone is so strange. I suppose I am just so used to having it overrun with people, everyone buzzing about with their different schedules. It was calm and quiet, and we didn't have to worry as much about waking people up in the morning.

One more strange things was the weather. While folks in the US were sweltering in over 100 degree heat (East Coast!) France was cooler. It was windy and almost chilly. It rained all day three times. The driveway became muddy. The boys couldn't play outdoors. In all the years that we came there all summer, every summer (for about seven years) it didn't rain as much as it did the three weeks of our vacation. Even that time with the horse and the lighting

when we took shelter in the barn and even the frogs were hopping in to seek shelter.

Also, the wind drove me crazy. For two weeks it blew and blew and blew and it drove me crazy. It made it seem like trips to the beach were impossible, cooling the air and the water and blowing hats off heads and ruffling the pages of whatever book I had in my hand and was trying to read.

But it was still lovely. I find I sank into a rhythm of sleeping, waking, running, and eating. I didn't feel pressured to be on time for anything, except for the occasional trip to the store before lunch hour. And although I am glad to be back home and get back into a routine, especially after the traumatic time we had on our return trip, I already miss the warm sun and the slower pace of life.

Also, I went running on my street yesterday morning and it was so cold I could see my breath! my BREATH! In AUGUST!

Last Day Of T-Ball

We didn't have the last T-ball game. So many games had been rained out that the last week was jam-packed, and the league refused to re-schedule anything else. But it was raining, so instead of playing the coach just passed out the trophies to those who showed up. I had been planning on taking all my photos that day. Shoot. Instead we have rainy day pictures.

Auntie Em! Auntie Em!

The other day we woke up to sunny skies.

As we waited for the school bus, I put sunscreen on the boys. Which was ridiculous, because by the time the bus got there, huge thunder clouds were rolling in. They were from the far end of the property, which meant we got a good view of them.

Nate, Andy and I sat at the top of the driveway watching the lighting and hearing the thunder, and then I took us inside to get ready for school.

Before we were ready, huge marble-sized hailstones dropped from the sky. For five minutes we were pummeled by ice rocks. I didn't want to take us out. The temperature cooled to 60 degrees.

It was too wet and dark to work in the yard, but by the time the boys were picked up at lunch, it was seventy five and sunny. After nap it was eighty. I left to get Nick and take him to piano class.

At piano class we heard there was a tornado warning for our area. This is very, very unusual for southern New Hampshire. But there were winds, and rain, and the sky was dark again.

By eight pm the sun had mostly set, but there were fewer clouds. No wind. And the air itself was red.

I can safely say this has been odd weather.