Hey Voice readers, it’s been a crazy winter thus far, hasn’t it? With all the wintry weather, we’re hearing new words in our New River Valley lexicon such as “snoverload” and “snopacalypse.”
We’ve had days and days in which the schools have been closed, shoveling snow has become routine, and we all fear our power bills. We’ve heard, here and there, some interesting snow stories of this season, and we want to chronicle those. So we’re trying something new. We want to here your snow stories. How have you dealt with the kids being out of school all these days? What has created laughs or tears, joys or pains, as we trudge through this winter?
Write your brief story in the section below where it says “Leave a Comment,” and we’ll continue to add to this as winter wears on here in the NRV.
Looking forward to hearing from you!
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The following story and photo come from Patricia Robin Woodruff of Floyd:
We had an ice storm around here and my daughter, Coriander, and I were looking outside at the weeping cherry with ice coated branches. I was saying I wanted to do a painting to capture it and she suggested that she go out in a white outfit and get her picture taken in the tree (it’s her favorite tree, after all.)
So I found a white kimono she could wear and then I remembered that a few days ago I was cleaning up and had tossed a dry flower wreath outside onto a bush (it had been crumbling apart and I figured it would sort of decorate the outside.) It had gotten covered in the ice too, so it was perfect!
So, Coriander and I went out into the sleet with the camera, but the tree was too icy for her to climb, so I just had her stand in front of the cascading branches of the tree. If anyone saw us, they’d probably think we were nuts standing out in the ice, snow, and sleet, but it was so worth it!
1 response so far ↓
1 The Man Who Snarls // Feb 10, 2010 at 11:03 am
A stranger to heavy snowfall, I took a walk last Sunday with no conception of how the weekend’s accumulation would hinder my progress.
The walk around campus was cake. The sidewalks were clear, and as a result, my confidence was up. I haven’t been able to walk much this year. The trip around campus reminded me how much I enjoy the steady beat of my own footfalls.
I was motivated enough to make an impromptu trip to Food Lion. I hit an icy patch just down the sidewalk from 7-Eleven. Those cautious steps did nothing to prepare me for the broad stomps I’d need the rest of the way.
Traveling Tyler Avenue toward Food Lion, one moves uphill. This is an easy detail to forget, even for a pedestrian. When knee-deep snow becomes part of the equation, you’re reminded. My sore legs are still reminding me.
I hadn’t planned on walking through the snow. I had on one pair of thin socks, sneakers, and sweatpants. My feet were fortunately numb during the strained march through the snow. But clemency it wasn’t. That strained march proved to be a potent cardio-drain, and I had to stop every ten or twenty steps to recuperate, at which point my feet reminded me how stupid I’d been to make the trip in the first place.
I took over thirty minutes to reach the top of Tyler. Needless to say, I didn’t regret in the least the Twix Peanut Butter bar I bought at Dollar General.
Go, snow–and I don’t mean that as encouragement. Go up north where they know what to do with you.
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