TheBanyanTree: The Deep Freeze

[NancyIee at aol.com]

In a message dated 1/13/2007 10:11:26 A.M. Eastern Standard Time,  
margaret.kramer at polarispublications.com writes:

Well,  it's a deep freeze for this morning
 
In talking to my family in the North hinterlands, I heard about a "warm"  
Winter.  And, just as I was beginning to think I could go back for a  mid-Winter 
visit, comes the Arctic Blast. Brrr. How well I remember shimmering  ice 
crystals blowing fragile as lace off the tops of snow-drifts.  The  nighttime lake, 
with its deep groans and much cracking of ice as it froze. I  remember one 
really windy, icy day, and the lake ice was glazed and polished to  a high 
sheen.  A late flock of Canada Geese came gliding in, to land, I  suppose, as they 
wended their tardy way south. They banked for landing, and slid  and skidded 
many feet on the ice before coming to an indignant stop.
 
I remember days so cold my nose froze shut, and my scarf was frosted in  
frozen breath. I remember the barn cat who came to drink from the dog's water,  
and got stuck there, howling pitifully until I went and rinsed her stuck face  
off the ice with warm water. She came away with a small, bloody mustache and a  
mistrust of the dog bowl.
 
And, that is why I am far south of those times and lands.
 
Yet, I miss the icy ring around the moon before a snowstorm. I miss the  
crunch of boots in new snow.  I miss the little "angels" all along the  front 
slope.
 
But, I don't think I will head north just yet.
 

 
 
NancyLee