According to J’s official backyard measurement, we got 12 inches of snow in Newton this weekend, starting late on Saturday night and continuing throughout the day on Sunday. Contrary to the media hype (and local supermarket panics) over this presumably apocalyptic storm, life did not screech to a halt in New England: it never does. A fresh foot of snow is Just Another Winter Storm, so even on Sunday morning as the snow still fell, folks in the suburbs were out with shovels and snowblowers, digging out as usual.
J and I had tickets for an afternoon women’s basketball game at Boston College, so since the game wasn’t canceled, we transported ourselves to the game the way we usually do: we walked. Yesterday wasn’t the first time we’ve made the seven-mile round-trip trek to BC in a snowstorm: the exertion of walking keeps you warm, and although some stretches of sidewalk weren’t plowed or shoveled, drivers were careful to leave room for the two intrepid pedestrians walking the plowed edge of Beacon Street.
The exceptional thing about our walk to and from BC is that it isn’t exceptional. On the way to and from BC, we met a handful of other walkers, along with folks out shoveling driveways and folks stopped for hot chocolate before or after sledding. At the game itself, one fellow working the concession stand said he’d walked two miles through the snowstorm to get to work. Again, life in New England doesn’t screech to a halt because we got a foot of snow; instead, we quickly get to the business of digging out, and life otherwise goes on as usual.
Because we spent Sunday afternoon walking to and from that women’s basketball game, J spent this morning doing the snow-removal he usually would have done yesterday, snow-blowing the driveway, sidewalks, and walkways as well as raking the roof of excess snow. It’s about three hours of work he has to do whenever it snows, so it’s just as well to get 12 inches in one big storm rather than a little bit of snow here and a little bit of snow there.
As for me, I’m spending today with my paper-piles, with final grades for both Keene State and SNHU Online being due tomorrow. Whether you’re blowing through snowdrifts or battling paper-piles, it’s a long job of digging out all the same.
Hoarded Ordinaries 
Dec 21, 2009 at 5:51 pm
Your snow pictures really capture the beauty of this snowfall. We got lucky this time with the weather forecast as Philly and D.C. got the snow that the forecasters were expecting for us in the Greater Boston area.
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Dec 21, 2009 at 11:01 pm
beautiful winter snow pics. is that your (J’s) cute snowman? glad we don’t have to shovel, but we love to look at it when it falls here. we just don’t go out in the car and let the sun melt it so shoveling is not necessary when we get more than a few inches. rare here until the past couple of years when we had a foot or more.
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Dec 23, 2009 at 12:27 pm
Lorianne, what spectacular photos these are, especially for a native Southern Californian. As for walking 14 miles in a snowstorm to go to a game, all I can say is that you are courageous.
Is the snow sticking? Is more on the way?
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Dec 23, 2009 at 12:47 pm
Yes, Chris, we’re better equipped to handle this than the folks further south who truly got hammered!
Sky, that snowman is in front of a house Reggie & I pass almost every morning when we go walking. They always have wonderful seasonal decorations, like this.
Fran, the trip was seven miles round-trip: 3 1/2 miles there, 3 1/2 miles back. I don’t think even I would walk 14 miles in a snowstorm for a basketball game! 🙂 It’s a pleasant walk in good weather; the snow just makes it a bit more tricky.
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