Tag Archives: weather

Seder Snowstorm

photo

If you listen carefully this morning, you can hear a collective sigh of women throughout the midwest and east coast pondering pounds of brisket and gallons of chicken soup, wondering who will make it to their seder tables tonight. To think that our past worries were whether there would be an egg shortage due to the Passover/Easter proximity.

Here we were – certainly those of us who work full time – thinking how brilliant it was that the first seder fell on a Monday. We partook in leisurely shopping over the weekend instead of the midnight run to the all night grocers. We cooked in our pajamas and workout clothes and our phones were spared the gooey matzoh ball mixture of conference calls past. We set tables with extra care and woke this morning able to still put in a fairly decent day’s work before the reheating begins.

We plan and G-d laughs. A pending spring snowstorm that doesn’t even have the decency to show up early enough for any of our guests to be able to make a show/no-show judgement call before early afternoon is sort of the big Mother Nature FU.

My phone started buzzing with texts last night: “Weather update?”, “Any cancellations?”, “You changing yours to Tuesday?”

Holiday misery loves company.

Tonight, instead of the Four Questions there will be only one… will anyone be sitting at our seder tables?

In case not, anyone interested in a boatload of Jew food?

 

 

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Time to Cry Tuesday – A Hint of Spring

If you live in the northeast, you felt it over the past few days. That ice-glazed mountain of snow you call your yard shrunk down a few inches. Perhaps your gutters came crashing down as the ice dams that formed in them melted. You opened your coat, took off your gloves, gave the snow shovel the finger and smiled when you went outside for the first time in weeks.

You believed in that groundhog, dammit… this winter WILL end soon!

Let’s not get a false sense of security here. We will shift back into the frigid temps before the end of the week. But perhaps we should take a look at this little snow reprieve as a sign that we need to adjust our attitudes about this winter.

It will end. We WILL see our lawns again. The dogs will be able to relieve themselves in places other than the doody lanes that we have shoveled for them. We will garden, and picnic and yes we will actually feel sand between our toes.

And hey, before you know it we will be bitching about the steamy hot summer again.

 

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Filed under humor, Time to Cry Tuesdays, weather

Time to Cry Tuesday – Old Dog in the Snow

This old girl has always loved the snow. She would be the first one out the door and the last one back in. But 11 some odd winters have played havoc on her old bones and for the first time she had a really hard time this year. Granted we got slammed with a foot and a half and moving around was hard for everyone.

But her heart wanted to bound while her body knew it did not have it in her anymore. Don’t be too sad. She had a modified snow day. And she seemed content to lay in the sun in the front hallway for the remainder of the day watching the weather through the glass.

But I will tell you that first thing this morning when she woke up and went to the back door I could absolutely read her mind, “And I am so supposed to go out and pee in this how?”

 

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Filed under mel, pets, Time to Cry Tuesdays

Time to Cry Tuesday – The Ingredients of Your Soul

We all have them; the ingredients that make up our soul. The core of who we are and how we function. I believe the Trinidadians call it ‘how we move’. There are things that we do inherently. Our sixth sense. We don’t know how we know them, we just do. They are not necessarily formally learned but more passed down or ingrained in us from where we come from.

So you are wondering what brought this up? Well, if you were with me at the beach on Sunday you might be starting to form an idea.

The day was hot, sunny and humid. Not a cloud in the sky but the forecasters did mention an afternoon storm. Assuming they were wrong, we ventured down to the beach around 3:00. We finally arrived, got situated, ate a delicious lunch and then suddenly everything shifted. The clouds began to roll in, the breeze picked up and there was a subtle change in… well, in everything.

I stood up. Took a look around. Felt that subtle charge in the atmosphere. Checked the horizon and promptly announced it was time to go. Skeptical, Gary told me I was the only one getting up and making a move. But that did not discourage me. Because, my friends, I was born here. Just miles from my childhood home, even closer to the house my grandparents owned, these were the beaches of my childhood. And like my mother and my grandmother before me, I can just TELL the difference between passing clouds, a sprinkle and a downright impending storm.

Almost down to the minute.

I announced that within 10-20 minutes we would be caught in a downpour and I guess I said it with enough authority that the dozen or so people we were with stood up, packed up and hit the road.

And at the 15 minute mark it started to rain. By the time we arrived home there were trees down and electricity was out in places.

So how did I know? Luck? Sometimes. But mostly it is the same way the animals know. They get a feeling. Their habitat shifts and they have honed the sensitivity to it. The air smells different. The breeze has that unpredictable way about it.

I like to think of it as simply one of the main ingredients of my soul. The one that makes me pretty sure I can never live too far from an ocean and ever feel truly at home.

Haven’t had enough of me yet? You can also read me at 50-Something Moms Blog. For photo enthusiasts, visit Leaving the zip code, photos from outside the comfort zone.

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Nomadic Ancestory

Pile of backpacksPacking. 

What is it with putting things in a bag to go away that makes all my insecurities bubble up to the surface?

There is so much to consider; unpredictable weather systems, multiple options of my basically all black wardrobe (complete with white dog hair), health and beauty aids, hot flashes (keep your comments to yourself, this is a 50th birthday celebration weekend), music (thank goodness for the invention of the ipod), and of course electronics. The last item is paired down to a blackberry, flip video and a still camera – I am traveling techno-lite this weekend.

It stands to reason that the whole experience is overdone, I hardly leave the basement let alone the zipcode!

Seriously, an overnight trip and I could stay there for a week with what is my bag! I would have sucked at the 40 days and 40 nights thing.

Haven’t had enough of me yet? You can also read me at 50-Something Moms Blog.

For photo enthusiasts, visit Leaving the zip code, photos from outside the comfort zone.

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Filed under humor, road trip, travel