A WINTER WONDERLAND HERE IN THE AMERICAN DEEP SOUTH
By OLIVENE GODFREY
Here in the Deep South, we aren't accustomed to bad winters like the one we're having now. The snow started falling last Friday afternoon and then more snow on Saturday morning. When I got out of bed Saturday morning the temp was 20 degrees. Barry had to work and was unable to buy groceries but he came home early that afternoon. On Saturday. we had about an inch and a half of snow that covered everything and looked like a Winter Wonderland. The views from our windows were like picture post cards and Barry made some pictures of the pretty farm that adjoins our property, with its picturesque barn and large pond with the mountains just beyond. Brilliant sunshine came out blinding us against the white snow.
Barry bought groceries and it's a good thing we stocked up as more snow is forecast for late tonight, Sunday, and tomorrow.
We're having snow showers off and on as I write this on Sunday afternoon.
My earliest memory of snow and cold weather was the Christmas when I was six or seven and Santa Claus had brought me a new "girl's bike". I had asked for it although I had never been on one before. We were living in a Chattanooga community with chert roads. That year, the weather was very cold with snow still on the ground. But, my Daddy and I bundled up and took the new bike out to the road where he held onto the back of the bike while I pedaled. And then I looked back and Daddy wasn't holding onto the bike and I was having a solo ride which thrilled and scared me.
Another cold winter I remember was when I was barely 19, and was working in a Chattanooga downtown office. I lived in a girl's residence near the office and I walked to work every day and didn't mind it as I had walked everywhere I went during World War II. In those days, girls and women didn't wear slacks to work. So, clad in nylons and high heels, my legs and feet were so cold they ached when I reached the office. I was the "baby" in the office, so the older workers had me sit beside the steam heat radiator while I warmed my legs and feet.
Years later, when my late husband Ralph and I had been married a long time and Barry was a young teenager, Ralph and I went to the Dalton mall one Christmas eve when the temp was 10 degrees above zero.
(But, as Barry says Ralph and I did some crazy things, like taking a small boat out in the middle of the Tennessee River to fish, oblivious to the dangers.)
And who were living here, can ever forget the Blizzard of '93 in northwest Georgia? At our house, we had two feet of snow and were without electric power, heat and water for several days. I had never seen anything like it and hope I never do again. But, every time, it snows, we shudder at the thought of a repeat of that blizzard.
See you next time.
By OLIVENE GODFREY
Here in the Deep South, we aren't accustomed to bad winters like the one we're having now. The snow started falling last Friday afternoon and then more snow on Saturday morning. When I got out of bed Saturday morning the temp was 20 degrees. Barry had to work and was unable to buy groceries but he came home early that afternoon. On Saturday. we had about an inch and a half of snow that covered everything and looked like a Winter Wonderland. The views from our windows were like picture post cards and Barry made some pictures of the pretty farm that adjoins our property, with its picturesque barn and large pond with the mountains just beyond. Brilliant sunshine came out blinding us against the white snow.
Barry bought groceries and it's a good thing we stocked up as more snow is forecast for late tonight, Sunday, and tomorrow.
We're having snow showers off and on as I write this on Sunday afternoon.
My earliest memory of snow and cold weather was the Christmas when I was six or seven and Santa Claus had brought me a new "girl's bike". I had asked for it although I had never been on one before. We were living in a Chattanooga community with chert roads. That year, the weather was very cold with snow still on the ground. But, my Daddy and I bundled up and took the new bike out to the road where he held onto the back of the bike while I pedaled. And then I looked back and Daddy wasn't holding onto the bike and I was having a solo ride which thrilled and scared me.
Another cold winter I remember was when I was barely 19, and was working in a Chattanooga downtown office. I lived in a girl's residence near the office and I walked to work every day and didn't mind it as I had walked everywhere I went during World War II. In those days, girls and women didn't wear slacks to work. So, clad in nylons and high heels, my legs and feet were so cold they ached when I reached the office. I was the "baby" in the office, so the older workers had me sit beside the steam heat radiator while I warmed my legs and feet.
Years later, when my late husband Ralph and I had been married a long time and Barry was a young teenager, Ralph and I went to the Dalton mall one Christmas eve when the temp was 10 degrees above zero.
(But, as Barry says Ralph and I did some crazy things, like taking a small boat out in the middle of the Tennessee River to fish, oblivious to the dangers.)
And who were living here, can ever forget the Blizzard of '93 in northwest Georgia? At our house, we had two feet of snow and were without electric power, heat and water for several days. I had never seen anything like it and hope I never do again. But, every time, it snows, we shudder at the thought of a repeat of that blizzard.
See you next time.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home