Blizzard of 2010

The Blizzard of 2010 started on my youngest daughter’s 8th birthday—but her party went on as planned last Friday afternoon. Upon school letting out early, we shuttled a dozen or so kids to the house—where they played games and made sundaes. The snow fell almost 2” an hour through Friday evening—and we spent the better part of the evening shoveling to stay ahead of it. By the next day, we were dealing with a power outage and a couple feet of snow on the ground.

With shoveling done and no heat in the house, we jumped in the SUV and tooled around Bethesda. Much to our surprise, Parker’s American Grill was open for business (smart move). The place was packed—and as always, ice cold Smithwick’s was flowing from the taps. Our power was restored after the Super Bowl (what a great game)—and I spent all day Monday at Holy Cross Hospital. By Tuesday, we were sledding at Battery Kimball Park—only to be set back again on Wednesday with another foot of snow, more shoveling, and wind gusts of 40 MPH. We expected to lose power a second time, but came away unscathed.

Needless to say, Mother Nature has put my short term plans on hold. Mountain biking in the snow in recent weeks has gone from an epic experience to non-existent with this recent accumulation. With the kids out of school all week, my time is not my own. However, the quality time spent as a family is something I will always treasure—shoveling, sledding, building igloos, watching the kids jump off the back porch into the snow. We even spent time throwing snowballs at cars—which they thoroughly enjoyed until one of the neighbors said we were “performing an illegal activity”.

Recently I completed my second book—“Tuesdays with Morrie”(great read), and now reading “Into Thin Air”, Jon Krakauer’s book about the Mt Everest disaster. I’m also eager to start cooking up some new recipes for the family in the coming days.