Stranded

Best intentions, but no way to get out to my house and up the driveway. Pegi called the museum this morning, from her house, and said she couldn't get down off her hill, that the ground was covered in sleet and hail, and she lives out beyond me, but at a lower elevation. Samara, Rhea, and Scott got to the museum at noon and we went to the pub for a beer and lunch, then a couple of hours of me doing the docent thing then back to the pub for coffee in the front room. Comfortable space, sofas, a TV, and Barb had offered it. So we just stayed there, as the sleet turned to snow, and threw darts all afternoon, then a leisurely dinner, lively conversation the whole time. It was an interesting and fun day; recounting the past and bringing Scott up to speed. The girls wanted some of the stories from my past. Scott told some cooking tales, we exchanged some recipes, or not recipes exactly, more like a discussion about methods and combinations. I'd go outside, occasionally, and curse the weather that he and I couldn't spend some time cooking together. We may yet have the chance, but the snow is accumulating. Weather in which I would either stay on the ridge, or in town, but not attempt the commute. The ridge is nearly a thousand feet higher than town, and it makes a huge difference in accumulation. A half-inch of rain in Portsmouth at 33 or 34 degrees, is four inches of snow at 31 degrees. This is when winter laughs at me about not getting those first and last frosts when the cold rolls down into the hollows. This is serious cold, on a ridge-top, without a windbreak. A trip to the woodshed is about all you want to do outdoors in weather like this. I seriously doubt that I have either electricity or a phone at the house. I could get there, if I was alone, in the Jeep; carry a light pack up the hill, I've done it a thousand times. Light the oil lamps, a couple of candles for the flicker, crank up the wood stove, put on either a pot of chili or a stew, and curl up, under a blanket, with a book. You could say this was a specialty of mine. Get comfortable and read, it sometimes involves a hat and gloves. I need to get some ear-muffs. I'd never thought about them before, but I need some now. My ears are cold, I'm growing old, and my hearing isn't what it used to be.