In snowy silence

We finally got power back after a foot of heavy wet snow that took down trees and power lines.  As dusk came over the land on Saturday night the world looked like a silver gray haze and as night fell it darkened to a charcoal mist, heavy with snow and sleet.  We laid in bed listening to trees snap loudly and we held on as the top of one tree cracked and slid down across our bedroom window and along the side of our house.  Beyond the snapping tree limbs the heavy dark and cold silence was deafening.  It was, in moments that night , the Apocalypse.

And so we started each day by lighting the wood stove and the charcoal grill.  We boiled water for coffee and washing. The neighborhood men gathered to haul water for "flushing" - which was much more difficult than two months ago in August after hurricane Irene. We also gathered one night and played music and sang by the warmth of our wood stove and the glow of candles and oil lamps. One neighbor brought us hand warmer bags - you snap these 'tea-bag' looking sacks and they get warm. Such a nice gesture of good neighbor-good will!   :-)  One neighbor brought some vodka!!!  Good neighbor-good will!  And so the evening ended, folks found their way home through the heavy, cold and silent darkness - candles were snuffed and fires stoked to make it through until morning.

And then it began all over again,  - light the grill, get the wood stove going, check food and water supplies - cook breakfast - and then came the much needed shower.  We could shower on the back deck in August - but certainly not now.  We heated a big pot of water and filled the watering can and brought it up to the bathroom upstairs.  We gave one another a make shift showers.  It was freezing even though the water was warm the air was SO cold.  We survived!

And so we made it - we did it - together.  I did wake up one morning and just sobbed.  I did NOT want to face the day.  I snapped out of it, actually laughed at myself , literally pulled on my warm socks and boots and got to the business at hand.  The MS, although a reality did not hinder me all that much.  I did my fair share and felt so good that I could.  We even made a beef stew which we started outside on the grill and then simmered for a few hours atop the wood stove.  It was delicious.  Of course, the hearty bottle of red wine we drank with it enhanced the stew and the whole evening.  After, we spent a couple hours looking at old pictures of when our kids (and us) were younger.  It was wonderful.  We would stop, and pause, and touch a photo trying to capture a time long since gone.  Memories.

And so the 'Nor'Easter of October 2011 is 'one for the books'.
Many are still without power and there are downed trees and wires all around town.  Meanwhile, we will count our blessings and appreciate every convenience we have.