This might be the scene on a good summer day in the botanic gardens – but not today! We have vistas more like this at the moment:

It started snowing Saturday evening last and kept up with snow and then freezing rain/sleet all day Sunday. I spent the day very cozy with hand sewing a patchwork crazy quilt block from men’s ties (a nice shoebox full I bought at a show sometime last year) and binge streaming Rizoli and Isles episodes on Netflix.

We woke up Monday to a white vista of snow overlain with a heavy crust of ice (strong enough to hold up a grown man’s weight without crunching any footsteps!). Nasty stuff. The wind was brisk, temperatures were low (in the 20s) and there was no reason to go out.

We pay for a lawn service company to also do leaf removal and snow shoveling … so we waited for them to come clear our driveway and sidewalk (I certainly wouldn’t ask Skip, still recovering from surgery, or my son to tackle the job). By yesterday afternoon the service guys still had not arrived (up to their non-metaphorical eyebrows in snow removal, I’m sure).

I stepped out to take a look at our situation in the early afternoon … and promptly fell flat on my face. Now, I went to university in Wisconsin and learned by necessity how to move around on ice. I had never stepped onto such a slippery surface on real ground before! A Zamboni could not have created a better skating platform. 😛

Luckily, when I fell I managed to get my arm down before my face hit the surface of the very hard, very cold ice. I squirmed around and managed to drag myself to a sitting position on our front step (man, that ice was cold on my tush!) and then called my son to come help me up. I could not break through the icy surface of the snow with my cane and full strength – my very much stronger son managed a bit better (but only just) and got me up.

No way is either of us getting much traction on this ice. The temperatures have continued to be quite low (for us) – in the teens and twenties at best. Not sure how we can get out – still waiting on the service guys (phone calls get ‘we’re working on it’ messages). I managed to make an impromptu pot of chili this afternoon (after sitting for a while to let the adrenaline jitters pass) – which turned out quite tasty.

Crossing my fingers for an escape tomorrow!

Linda