Snowed-in January 2011

The snow fell Sunday night, January 10, 2011. We have been nestled in our cabin at the top of a mountain in Blue Ridge, Georgia for 6 days now. The car is still covered in ice and snow.

But although time goes slowly we both agree that it has been very pleasant. I have worked on catching up with lots of oral history, SIGCSE, Hopper and other tasks on the computer. I have cooked a lot (we had laid in supplies for 10 days). We both have read, watched Netflix movies, and plain relaxed. The cats appear to love having our warm bodies to lie on.

But we have been outside and active as well. I used an old pair of Gwyneth's cross country skis until the sole came off the boot; we tried tubing on storage container lids (bad idea) and rafting tubes (good idea but way too fast for us!), and lots of walking.


What wonder there is in breaking trails in the snow on dense wooded trails or gingerly walking down icy roads!

Yesterday we received a call from the mail carrier (the 70-something wife of the man who built our cabin) that we had a package at the mailbox at the bottom of the mountain. We decided to walk to the nearest restaurant (2.5 miles away) and Phil insisted on carrying the package we retrieved all the way over the next mountain and down again to the restaurant! He with glee forced me to open it -- the computer engineer Barbie. I had earlier exclaimed when my dear colleague Suzanne had received one for Christmas that I was extremely jealous. Mind you, I hate Barbies and forbidden my children from ever owning one, but I had voted for Mattel to produce said Barbie and my name is Barbara, so it seemed necessary to have one!


I look at the weather forecast too often now. I look with longing at my daughter's blog posts about her family's idyll on Ft. Lauderdale's beaches. I think it is time for a thaw and for us to go back to civilization. Soon, I hope.