It has been an unusual winter here in rural Virginia. Everybody says that around the globe, but it may actually be true here. One day it feels and looks like Spring with balmy breezes and sunshine. And the next there may be snow or freezing rain or rain or flooding or wind.
With each ensuing event our family and friends (in warmer climes) would call and ask if we were o.k. “No problem. They simply exaggerate the weather here. All is well,” we said.
But then for the last two days we got seriously punishing winds. Gusts were up to 60 miles per hour which caused limbs and toppling trees to fall onto power lines and then massive outages.
Even so,
for a time we were spared any inconvenience and we smugly carried on.
But then there were the inevitable lights out.
It was our turn.
Ah well, no problem. There is a trusty wood stove in our living room and a little generator only Bill knows how to operate. And soon we were once again smugly carrying on.
And in a mere two hours our lights returned and we let the fire in the woodstove slowly burn itself out.
I retired around 11PM and went into a warm cozy dreamy kind of sleep
when around midnight the lights went out again.
The house slowly turned stone cold.
So did the top of my head
and then my nose which woke me up at 3:15 A.M.
Have you ever tried to warm your nose and keep breathing?
I did manage to create a sort of blanket tent
around head and face but
the cold kept seeping in.
I got up to put on a wool cap
(not particularly becoming).
It kept slipping down over my eyes.
The forehead got warmer
but the nose re-froze.
This went on until 5 AM…. a rough night.
Bill finally got the wood stove going again at 6AM and the power returned about 10 AM this morning.
My nose is warm again. So is the forehead. But I had a lot of time to think about coping with a cold nose and other bodily parts and kept remembering “mama in her ‘kerchief” in the Twas The Night Before Christmas poem. Surely she and my ancestors had the same problems with the fires going out and the cold creeping in.
Today my side of the bed is at the ready with
- a wool cap nearby (forget romance forever),
- an extra blanket for swaddling semi-exposed areas of face and body,
- tightly closed windows (never mind allowing in fresh air for health),
- and warm socks to avoid frostbite.
I wonder if “mama in her ‘kerchief” had a canopied curtained bed.
Not a bad idea.
Now if only Elsa-the-fuzzy-wuzzy-dog would recognize the value of cuddling, winter’s woes will disappear.
Virginia Views 