MountainMornings

Call this an essay on moving to the South and forgetting my Northern roots.

We built our not so big house on a mountain outside of Charlottesville, VA in 2005; but we actually moved there two years before that. All told, we’ve been transplanted Southerners for over 15 years! We laugh when school is cancelled for a “dusting” of snow; we remember piling into our four wheeler in the Berkshires and driving through a Nor’easter just to go to the movies. Two feet of snow never bothered me.

Today movies are on Netflix and we’re all experiencing pandemic cabin fever. It’s February, Mardi Gras time, and our local cupcake store is selling King Cakes. Since winter has settled in, there were no more dinners on the Bride’s big front porch, no more hikes in the local park. And today, my neighborhood is encased in ICE. The whole city has shut down, even the local grocery store is closed. There are layers of ice and snow on the roads, and no snow plows, no salt trucks. Just bright, thundering silence.

I refuse to drive on ice, always have and always will. So you might say I’m in self-imposed-super-freezing-semi-quarantine. What’s happened to that brave, young woman who would grab a chain saw to cut up a downed tree in her driveway? Last night and all day I’ve been throwing out pine nuts for the birds. Organic pine nuts from my porch like some deranged Disney princess – “I used to be Snow White, but I drifted.”

At least we didn’t lose power. In this city house there is no generator, no gas range, no wood stove or fireplace. We would be in a real pickle if we lost power. Pipes could freeze along with our spirits. My sweet husband had to point out the difference between “sleet” and “freezing rain,” do you know the difference?

Sleet is tiny ice pellets. In fact, last night while walking Ms Bean I could feel tiny icicles hitting my face. All night I could hear their patter on the bedroom window. Bob told me that sleet is good because it will bounce off power lines.

Freezing rain is rain that freezes when it hits something. As you might imagine, when freezing rain builds up on power lines they tend to fall. So we don’t want freezing rain, but in my opinion, I’d rather just have snow.

You can cross country ski on snow, and walk on it fine, you can shovel out tunnels for kids and dogs and driving on it is a piece of cake IF you have an all wheel drive vehicle. I actually love snow, but my long underwear and boots and skis are long gone. And the Grands can’t build snow/men/women or have snowball fights with ICE.

I’m afraid the South has softened me. The L’il Pumpkin asked me the other day if I could sit on the floor. I said, “What do you mean?” He said you know, “Can you get up once you sit on the floor?” Maybe it’s time for me to buy some snow shoes and lace micro spikes on them? Here is Bean in the Blue Ridge.