Paddy Eger's Blog - Posts Tagged "blizzard"
Blizzard of 1950
Marta, the main character in my novel 84 Ribbons and I both grew up in Bremerton. This is my story that could have just as well been hers. Enjoy!
On a wintry January day in 1950, the snow became a blizzard. I was in Mrs. Walgren’s third grade class, looking out the window, watching the world outside disappear into the flurry of fast-moving snow. Recess was cancelled as the temperature dropped to freezing in a matter of minutes. Our parents were called and told we’d not be dismissed until an adult picked us up from the classroom.
Mrs. Walgren passed out extra graham crackers and milk while we waited. Our Rainier Avenue neighbor, Orville Anderson came to walk his son Dennis and me home. He arrived, covered in snow, but his warm smile remained intact as we hurried into our winter coats with mittens-on-a-string, grabbed our hats and boots and headed out the door.
The snow blasted our faces with frozen needles, blowing sideways. The one o’clock afternoon light faded to the duskiness of the hour before dark. We kept our chins tucked into our coat collars, held hands and started home.
The roadway was invisible. When a car passed, its headlights were dim as a fading flashlight. Mr. Anderson guided us home without once sending us into the deep ditches along the way. He didn’t speak; his words would have been lost in the whirling, stinging snow. We held hands and kept moving.
The blizzard became a record-setter. Over twenty inches of snow arrived in one day, shutting down the Puget Sound region for days. The twenty-five to forty mile an hour winds created snowdrifts that froze and lingered for weeks. It was over forty years before another blizzard shut down the region.
Each time a wintry storm arrives, I think back to that blizzard and walking home as though we moved through the flurry of a well-shaken snow globe.
What wintry remembrances pop up when/if you've experienced a snow storm?
Please LIKE and SHARE my story with others and add your own recollections. Many people never experience the icy wonder/excitement/scariness of a freezing day of snowflakes.
On a wintry January day in 1950, the snow became a blizzard. I was in Mrs. Walgren’s third grade class, looking out the window, watching the world outside disappear into the flurry of fast-moving snow. Recess was cancelled as the temperature dropped to freezing in a matter of minutes. Our parents were called and told we’d not be dismissed until an adult picked us up from the classroom.
Mrs. Walgren passed out extra graham crackers and milk while we waited. Our Rainier Avenue neighbor, Orville Anderson came to walk his son Dennis and me home. He arrived, covered in snow, but his warm smile remained intact as we hurried into our winter coats with mittens-on-a-string, grabbed our hats and boots and headed out the door.
The snow blasted our faces with frozen needles, blowing sideways. The one o’clock afternoon light faded to the duskiness of the hour before dark. We kept our chins tucked into our coat collars, held hands and started home.
The roadway was invisible. When a car passed, its headlights were dim as a fading flashlight. Mr. Anderson guided us home without once sending us into the deep ditches along the way. He didn’t speak; his words would have been lost in the whirling, stinging snow. We held hands and kept moving.
The blizzard became a record-setter. Over twenty inches of snow arrived in one day, shutting down the Puget Sound region for days. The twenty-five to forty mile an hour winds created snowdrifts that froze and lingered for weeks. It was over forty years before another blizzard shut down the region.
Each time a wintry storm arrives, I think back to that blizzard and walking home as though we moved through the flurry of a well-shaken snow globe.
What wintry remembrances pop up when/if you've experienced a snow storm?
Please LIKE and SHARE my story with others and add your own recollections. Many people never experience the icy wonder/excitement/scariness of a freezing day of snowflakes.
