![\"snow1\"](\"http:\/\/gloryjune.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/snow1.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nIt is snowing\u2013a big, old-fashioned snow as pictured on the Christmas cards.\u00a0 The snow of my dreams, the snow of my childhood\u2013at least as I remember it.<\/p>\n
I grew up in Michiana glacial lakeland where the prevailing winds brought extra mountains of lake-effect snow<\/a> from that nearby inland sea, Lake Michigan.\u00a0 Indeed, there was a period of time when the town of New Carlisle, where I attended high school, touted itself as the \u201cSnow Capital of Indiana,\u201d although those in the know were aware that the community of Hudson Lake, immediately northwest over the county line, would likely receive an inch or two more.\u00a0 For children it seemed glorious; over any given winter we could count on about 14 \u201csnow days\u201d off.\u00a0 In the days before computers or robocalls, we eagerly listened to the local radio station rattle off names of closed schools.<\/p>\n I would spend hours at a time outside all bundled up.\u00a0 In the yard beside the garage one year was my \u201cigloo\u201d\u2013I think it actually may have a pile of building materials that my dad had gathered for an anticipated project in the spring.\u00a0 I remember it was covered over with plastic sheeting but there was a hollow space in the middle large enough for me.\u00a0 My grandparents lived next door, and in the adjacent lot my grandfather had planted perhaps two hundred white pines sometime after the war.\u00a0 (That would be World War II, but a certain generation always called it \u201cthe war\u201d and we all understood.)\u00a0 We had a source of Christmas trees for years!\u00a0 White pines grow very quickly, so that by the time I was in elementary school the trees were thick and fifteen to twenty feet high.\u00a0 A good snowfall turned this little forest into a magic place with tunnels beneath the branches and crisscrossed passages.\u00a0 Such fun!\u00a0 Whenever I headed back into the house my mother would stop me on the porch with a broom to sweep the snow off me, front and back.<\/p>\n All this and more came to mind, walking in my urban neighborhood so very different from my childhood home.\u00a0 But the snow took me back.<\/p>\n A few days later: \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/i>Wearing an outfit not so different from what I wore decades ago\u2013longjohns and \u201csnowpants\u201d and thick coat\u2013I head out to a nearby park to go sledding.\u00a0 My sled, scored years ago for less than a dollar at a yard sale, is very like the one I used as a child.<\/p>\n Unlike Charles Foster Kane, I cannot with 100 percent certainty recall the brand name of my sled, which was a hand-me-down from a cousin, I believe.\u00a0 It was likely American Flyer but maybe it was Radio Flyer (not \u201cRosebud,\u201d in any case).\u00a0 I searched the internet hoping a photograph would jog my memory, but instead I was stunned by the prices old sleds go for these days and appalled they were considered merely a decorative item! \u00a0Sleds were meant to be used!\u00a0 As usual, I am the only one at the hill with a sled of this kind. \u00a0 \u00a0 A lovely bonus to the day was a bald eagle flying low over the park\u2013no mistaking it!<\/p>\n A month later:<\/i>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0The wonder returns.\u00a0 Another beautiful snow, all fluffy and a lot of it!\u00a0 Snow sifting through streetlights at night seems to create a fantasy land, not that of endless snow and temperatures worthy of Minnesota. \u00a0 But we are tired of the cold.\u00a0 When there is snow, the temperatures are too frigid to play.\u00a0 And what of the snowdrops, after all those nights of below zero?\u00a0 A month later, they are still biding their time.<\/p>\n Two months later: \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/i>Surely the last of the big snows (and not so big, at that), but who knows.\u00a0 Perhaps, though, the last chance to go sledding once more.\u00a0 The sun is weak and the clouds eventually prevail.\u00a0 Oddly, the hill is deserted\u2013have kids simply tired of sliding down hills?\u00a0 Have they given up completely?\u00a0 There are, however, some twenty or so squirrels frolicking nearby, as only squirrels can: up and down and tree to tree with mad abandon.\u00a0 I suppose, as I shriek my way down the slope trying to steer around the bumps, that I am exhibiting the same.\u00a0 I never grow tired of it and am grateful for another day on the hills.\u00a0 But\u2013the snowdrops are eager, and this snow lasts but a short time.<\/p>\n When more than a hint of spring visits for a day or two, we are ready.\u00a0 And so, it seems, are the bees!<\/p>\n Early January: It is snowing\u2013a big, old-fashioned snow as pictured on the Christmas cards.\u00a0 The snow of my dreams, the snow of my childhood\u2013at least as I remember it. I grew up in Michiana glacial lakeland where the prevailing winds … Continue reading <\/a>Days of bitter cold follow.\u00a0 The snow lingers but sunny days melt patches that reveal harbingers lying in wait.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/i><\/i><\/p>\n<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n<\/a>Climate change brings great contrasts, and after today\u2019s sunny and mild 60s, tomorrow brings rain, sleet, snow\u2013and a sixty-degree thud in temperature.\u00a0 March is indeed an angry lion.\u00a0 The snowdrops will carry on until they are joined by other floral companions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"