Winter Weather

This icy season that has most of the U.S. indoors or out shoveling snow reminds of my last winter living in Kent, Ohio. I was snowed in alone for four days – a most interesting experience. That last winter crisis happened at the end of January, 1978.

That winter I remember seeing Walter Cronkite on TV with a map of the United States over his left shoulder that had illustrations of icicles covering it. And President Jimmy Carter was encouraging us all to keep the thermostat at 55 degrees because we were in the middle of an oil crisis. Which I did. I also had to buy heating oil for my house in the country so I was glad to scrimp on heat.

The week in January when it started snowing and snowing and everything stopped, I was at home with a sewing project (a vintage-style handbag) and fortunately, enough food to last until I could get out. There was no question about driving in to Kent to open the plant store. I did have electricity and phone service but couldn’t really see out. The patterns of frost covering the windows were beautiful but impeded my view of the white, suspended world outside. Though many others have spend more time in isolation, spending that much time alone was a great exercise in self-entertainment.