Shoveling out a path through the drifts.

At one time school children read and memorized some lines of the poem "Snowbound" by John Greenleaf Whitter. One of our sisters who grew up in rural New England says that she and a classmate competed to see who could memorize the most stanzas. The opening stanza came to mind during yesterday's historic snowstorm!

The sun that brief December day
Rose cheerless over hills of gray,
And, darkly circled, gave at noon
A sadder light than waning moon.
Slow tracing down the thickening sky
Its mute and ominous prophecy,
A portent seeming less than threat,
It sank from sight before it set.

A chill no coat, however stout,
Of homespun stuff could quite shut out,
A hard, dull bitterness of cold,
That checked, mid-vein, the circling race
Of lifeblood in the sharpened face,
The coming of the snowstorm told.
The wind blew east; we heard the roar
Of Ocean on his wintry shore,
And felt the strong pulse throbbing there
Beat with low rhythm our inland air.

We awoke this morning to a full moon visible IF your window wasn't covered with snow! The sun is out and in a few days the warming weather will create perfect sledding conditions! Meanwhile, we are enjoying the beautiful, clean white snow. Early this morning some sisters enjoyed a bit of a tramp while all about was quiet. Now, we are being "serenaded" by the sound of snowblowers!