“We’re having a heat wave,” okay, a slight heat wave. It is only 33° now but a high of 40°is predicted. Rain is in the forecast. It should beat down more of the snow which is at its ugly stage. The pine trees didn’t fare well. My yards, back and front, are littered with branches and limbs. Some landed on fences. In the back a section of the fence is leaning. I think it can be saved. The front fence needs to be replaced. The snow is holding it up. Clean-up will take a while.

When I was a kid, the streets after being plowed still had a layer of snow. Summer tires were switched to either snow tires or chains. My father had his winter tires put on at the gas station. Because we lived on a hill, it was an early winter chore. Sometimes when the snow was still high on the street, my father went up the next street which by-passed most of the hill. He parked out front at the curb. Cars riding up and down the hill hard-packed the snow and made it perfect for sledding. We flew.

When I was growing up, I gave no real thought to the further beyond a day or two unless I was counting down the days until Christmas or summer vacation. I sometimes made weekend plans like going to the matinee or going bike riding usually by myself but other times with friends. On winter weekends we sometimes ice skated, at the swamp or the field. Once in a while, we’d take the bus to the MDC rink. It was the best rink. It had two round fenced in rinks, and a building where you could sit inside on benches to get warm, and you could even buy food. If I had the money, I’d buy hot chocolate then skate a little more. To get home, we used to have to cross over the busy road at the Middlesex Fells so we could catch the bus back. The bus stopped off the road at the front of the neatest house, a part of the New England Sanitarium and Hospital, where I was born as was Buffy St. Marie. The house had a beautiful rock front. Students nurses lived there. I remember them in uniform getting on the bus. They’d get off in the square.

My dance card has a few entries this week, all uke. I have the usual practice and lesson, and we have one concert. We’re playing Irish, one of my favorite uke music books. It will be good, my getting back into the world.

This entry was posted on March 3, 2026 at 12:16 pm and is filed under Musings. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. Both comments and pings are currently closed.