Just as we start the second week of March, we are ready to plow out from another winter storm.  I'm looking at about a half foot of snow out in our yard.  It wouldn't surprise me at all to see more unsettled weather over the next couple of weeks.  It seems that the old season of winter is in conflict with the milder, new season of spring that will start on the 21st.  Soon enough, winter will realize it's futile to fight and will surrender to spring.

Iv'e been dreaming of pussywillows, forsithia, tulips, jonquils, and lilacs.  Easter is just about a month away.  I would love to spend tthat day at the beach just like my Mom did for so many years.  We would take our whole Easter Dinner of sliced ham, potato salad, baked beans and ambrosa salad and have an easter egg hunt with the children.  The kids always got kites in their baskets and the beach was the best place for them to try them out.

Today is a great day for a dinner of chilli and home baked bread!  I have the meat thawing already.  Time to get going and get some housework done.

Another winter wonderland just as we are starting to dream of warmer days ahead, flowers in the garden and outdoor adventures.  As annoying as this may be, we, here in New England, are use to storms like this in March.  At least March has come in like a lion and should go out like a lamb.

In actuality, March can be very damaging.  These late winter storms, although not this one, can be very heavy with a pasty wet and heavy snow breaking tree limbs and damaging rooftops.  On the other hand, the sun is stronger and the snow melts quickly.

Instead of going to the gym today as I had planned, I will put my energy into house cleaning.  It's a hearty beef stew for dinner tonight and if I have the time and energy, I will bake some bread.  I will dream of Spring......only nineteen days away!

It started on Thursday night.  One of the worst weather conditions that can hit the north east is an ice storm.  They usually come in the very early spring, but not this one.  We lost power before I went to bed, so, I went to bed knowing it was going to be a long night.

The rain froze on everything it touched including the bare tree branches and the evergreen boughs of the pines.  Sometime during the night I woke to the familiar sound of heavy branches of trees breaking and falling to the ground and on the roofs of the mobile homes throughout the neighborhood.  That horrible popping sound just before the limbs fell, sent chills down my back as I laid there in the dark praying that no harm would come to our neighbors or us.  I snuggled into Steve, hoping sleep would send me back to dreamland.

Sleep came in spurts that night and I couldn't wait for daylight when we would find out how much damage we encountered outside our door.  Friday morning dawned and still the electricity was out.  Steve still went to work and Ken and I took a ride to see how bad the town suffered through the night.  Some streets were closed due to trees and wires downed from the storm and some areas looked like battle zones while others were a beautiful, sparkling wonderland.  Traffic lights were down in all the towns we went through and all stores and gas stations were closed.  Steve and I spoke over the cell phones and we met up at Lowe's in Epping.  Lowe's had it's own generator system and so they were open for business.  We bought the electrical supplies we needed to hook up the generator and headed home.

Well, fate had it so that our generator didn't work.  It is now in the shop being fixed so this won't happen again.  We were able to use our gas stove top and we have kerosene lanterns and emergency candles. We stayed warm and had dinner out before coming home and going to bed early.  Come Saturday morning, nothing had changed.  We were still without power.  Poor Steve.  This was his birthday and I couldn't even bake him his cake.  We took a ride, had dinner out again and when we got home......low and behold.......we had lights in the park as we drove in.  Our red lights and lit Santa on our porch was the best sight I had seen in two days.

Today, Sunday, there are still many communities without power.  Dee and Verne had Vernes parents from Farmington spend the night and cousin Jim and Marlene from Derry are staying with us tonight.  I hope the rest of the towns have power by tomorrow.  We have even seen utility trucks from as far as Quebec, Canada here to help with restoring power.

After all of this, we are expected to have unseasonably temps into the high fifties for the next couple of days!!!  Well, that's New England for you.  As for tonight???......I am sitting here enjoying the sound of Christmas Carols, a lit Christmas tree, the glow of the electric wood stove and the warmth of the furnace.  My prayers reach out to those who are still without power tonight. May they all find warmth and love tonight.