Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Snow!?! Ice!?!


OMG! I did not choose wisely! Yesterday's post was about bringing in my beautiful summer potted plants, trees and herbs. I thought we would bring them in today as Saul spent most of Sunday making space for them in the garage. When I opened my bedroom blinds this morning, it was raining hard, very depressing considering that we should have been celebrating a long-awaited Phillies victory in the World Series and six innings into play, the game was cancelled due to a torrential (and unexpected) downpour. But then, I noticed what looked like a few large snowflakes among the drops. "No, it can't be," I thought, "it must be just lots of small leaves blowing down in the wind." As I gazed in growing dismay, within 10 minutes there was no doubt that large snowflakes were falling in what began to resemble a blizzard. Within two hours, everything was blanketed with snow and ice and I could barely see across the street. I called Roxy, who lives about 45 minutes away in Yardley, and she told me it was only raining there. After a while, I called Saul at school in Chestnut Hill, about 30 minutes away in the other direction. He said that (oh my!) there were a few snowflakes mixed in with the rain. I turned on the weather report and discovered that I was in a small pocket of heavy snow brought in by a nor'easter. The station was reporting that Lansdale, one township over, was reporting an inch-and-a-half of snow on the ground. By then, I was really beginning to worry when it would stop, not only because of fear of losing my herbs and pet potted trees, but because very large trees around the house were bending over precariously from strong wind and the weight of heavy ice on not only branches, but leaf-covered branches! Thankfully, the worst appears to be over as I write this. The snow has changed back to rain and the ice has melted off the trees. We should have taken another hour on Sunday and brought everything inside. Who knew?! Certainly not the people who planned the logistics for the World Series. There was a big scramble to put up the team from Tampa Bay because every hotel room in the city was filled. They had to be quartered in Delaware.

Among my garage denizens are a kaffir lime tree that I brought home in the car several years ago after a trip to Key West with my brother and sister-in-law; a carob tree that I grew from seeds spit out of a carob pod eaten at a Tu B'Shevat seder at least 25 years ago; a bay leaf tree that I gave to my father-in-law as a tiny stick of a potted plant and that he nurtured almost until he died and which is about 20 years old now; and a miniature fig tree whose cuttings reside vigorously in various residences all over the East Coast, now about 9 years old. Although the fig tree itself has been very hardy, this is the first year that it has actually produced some figs. I feared that it was sterile. As you can tell, I am as attached to these demanding warm-weather life forms as some people are to their pet poodles. I feel about as bad about my decision not to bring them in until today as you would feel if you inadvertently left a dog outside on a freezing cold night. I hope I can make it up to them :-P.

On a happier note, I found the energy last night to actually set up the related recipe blog that I had envisioned in an earlier posting. I am very pleased with the initial results of my efforts and you can link back and forth between the two blogs with the link in the upper corners. I hope you will enjoy having easy access to these family favorites. I know I will enjoy not having to search through faded pieces of paper, old magazines and newspaper clippings any more.

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