Snow Days Are No Days for Getting Things Done
Margery McCurdy Plummer
The day was Tuesday, January 5th. I remember it because there was big weather news that day. Up to six inches of snow, the headlines read. I was elated. “We’re going to see a snow covered landscape just like those we had years ago,” I thought. Then I read the rest of the article. It read “up to six inches.” That didn’t mean six inches, but “up to” could mean a fairly deep snow.

Before I went to bed that night, I put my trusty “throw away” camera on the table, opened the blinds ready to record the beautiful (and as always hoped for non-dangerous snowfall.)

What I saw when I awakened the next morning was snow flurries, which didn’t even cover the leaves and dead grass.

I saw instead, an icy driveway and a snow and ice covered West Drive in front of our house. Very light snow fell for days and stayed unseasonably cold, enough to make one want to stay close to home.

I had more than one project planned for days like this that we were experiencing.

Unlike many more organized persons than I am, I had over the years failed to keep neat by arranged photograph albums with photographs identified by name, date, occasion and other bits of information to make them interesting. I had tried but never completed the job. I’m not a nervous person, but if there’s anything that can irritate or agitate me, organizing photos in a way that they can be found in an orderly manner is a job that can almost drive me up the wall.

This time I had another plan. I just went through the house emptying drawers and envelopes and some partially filled albums, kept out a handful of photographs that I might need to refer to quickly, put the remainder in boxes and other containers and put them all in a huge black trunk that had been in the family for a long time.

I don’t think that method made anything easier, but it relieved my mind to know that maybe hundreds or even thousands of photographs were all in that big trunk ready to be rescued in case of fire or some other disaster.

This was a very hard thing to do, and doing it made my self esteem drop very low. I couldn’t even organize my photographs, and not only that, this failure made me decide against tackling any more loose “odds and ends” jobs around the house for a long time.

Very, very light snow had been falling for days with the thermometer hovering far below freezing.

I decided to do my routine housework, reading, writing and little necessities and later, got into the ending of the football season and into some basketball, which had already begun.

I usually have two or three teams that I like which may or may not have much to do with appearance, popularity, style or capability.

I do, however, sometimes lean toward the underdog if the team is not playing one of my real favorites.

The big time favorite that many people claim, are not usually after my heart. It’s nice to root for a winner, but those small ones coming from the cellar with great class get my vote anytime. I just try to remember that the season is young and anything can happen in the world of sports as well as in the game of life.