Snow can be pretty, especially in pictures. It is also very nice from behind a picture window, when you have a nice fire going and something warm to drink.
When your city has gotten more than twice what it usually gets in a winter, and winter isn't over yet, it's not so pretty. Cities running out of money for plowing, no ice or sand available, hundreds of cars and trucks abandoned on the roads, power out in many places -- again, not very nice.
Flights canceled, no Amtrak either, and then the icing on the cake, people getting killed by snow plows running into them.
Yes, on top of the insult of having to resort to beet juice to melt the snow and ice on the roads, add the injury of the places that do still have plows running have reported deaths due to plows backing over people.
We need some good news. Even though i don't live where it snows, this makes me sad.
How about this gem, from the BBC. Elsie and Leslie Harper, married before the War, and divorced after, have decided to remarry 57 years later. Each had another marriage in between, that ended with the death of the subsequent spouse. It seems they get along better now than they did the first time, so with Leslie at age 93, and Elsie at 90, they are tying the knot again.
Good news. I hope they have many happy years together.
The next good news i read i hope is about snow melting.
Today is:
Army Day -- Armenia
Clash Day (Dress any way you want, and make sure it clashes. Celebrate at your own risk.)
Democracy Day -- Rwanda
Festival of the Lenaia to Dionysus -- Ancient Greek Calendar, end January through February 5
National Blueberry Pancake Day
National Kazoo Day
National Spieling Day
Rinkydinks Annual Snowball Fight -- Fairy Calendar
Runic Half Month Elhaz commences
Serendipity Day
St. Charlemagne's Day
St. Thomas Aquinas's Day (patron of students, pencil makers, theologians)
Birthdays Today:
Elijah Wood, 1981
Nick Carter, 1980
Joey Fatone, Jr. 1977
Sarah McLachlan, 1968
Nicolas Sarkozy, 1955
Rick Warren, 1954
Alan Alda, 1936
Susan Sontag, 1933
Jackson Pollack, 1912
Robert Stroud, 1890 (The Birdman of Alcatraz)
Arthur Rubenstein, 1887
Colette, 1873
Jose' Marti, 1853
Peter the Great of Russia, 1775
St. Thomas Aquinas, 1225
Today in History:
The Walk to Canossa: The excommunication of Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor is lifted by Pope Gregory VIII, 1077
The first Crusaders begins siege of Hosn-el-Akrad Syria, 1099
Pope Alexander VI gives his son Cesare Borgia as hostage to Charles VIII of France, 1495
Edward VI, age nine, succeeds his father Henry VIII as king of England, 1547
By the Edict of Orleans, the persecution of French Huguenots is suspended, 1561
Articles of the Warsaw Confederation are signed, sanctioning freedom of religion in Poland, 1573
Sir Thomas Warner found the first British colony in the Caribbean, on St. Kitts, 1624
The Russian Academy of Sciences was founded in St. Petersburg by Peter the Great, and implemented in the Senate decree (it was called St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences until 1917), 1724
Horace Walpole, in a letter to Horace Mann, coins the word serendipity, 1754
London's Pall Mall is the first street lit by gaslight, 1807
Pride and Prejudice is first published in the United Kingdom, 1813
The first locomotive runs from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean on the Panama Railway, 1855
In a snowstorm at Fort Keogh, Montana, the world's largest snowflakes are reported, being 15 inches (38 cm) wide and 8 inches (20 cm) thick, 1887
Walter Arnold of East Peckham, Kent became the first person to be convicted of speeding in an automobile. He is fined 1 shilling, plus costs, for speeding at 8 mph (13 km/h), thus exceeding the contemporary speed limit of 2 mph (3.2 km/h), 1896
The Carnegie Institution is founded in Washington, D.C. with a $10 million gift from Andrew Carnegie, 1902
An act of the U.S. Congress creates the United States Coast Guard, 1915
The first Jewish US Supreme Court justice, Louis Brandeis, appointed by Wilson, 1916
A symbolic Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is installed beneath the Arc de Triomphe in Paris to honor the unknown dead of World War I, 1921
The name Pakistan is coined by Choudhary Rehmat Ali Khan and is accepted by the Indian Muslims who then thereby adopted it further for the Pakistan Movement seeking independence, 1933
The Lego company patents the design of its Lego bricks, still compatible with bricks produced today, 1958
The current design of the Flag of Canada is chosen by an act of Parliament, 1965
Tropical Storm Domoina makes landfall in southern Mozambique, eventually causing 214 deaths and some of the most severe flooding so far recorded in the region, 1984
Supergroup USA for Africa (United Support of Artists for Africa) records the hit single We Are the World, to help raise funds for Ethiopian famine relief, 1985
Space Shuttle Challenger breaks apart after liftoff killing all seven astronauts on board, 1986
Friendly Fill-Ins Week 443
14 hours ago
Hadn't heard about beet juice to melt snow. Hmm. It sure is a heavy year for snow, one of the weather guys was referring to it as a snowicane. Sort of silly, but I understand the meaning.
ReplyDelete25 years... wow. I was in college when the Challenger blew. Oddly, we all saw it at school, in the lounge, the sound was down, and it took us several minutes to find the remote to figure out what was going on. We had thought that someone had shot a bomb off or something. A very sad day, I was studying to be a teacher, and there was a teacher was on board.
Memories... Huh.
Cat
Memories indeed. Someone just replayed the audio on the radio, and it brought me to tears.
ReplyDeleteSnowicane -- we can sympathize.
Snow is a mysterious and fearsome occurrence. I too am glad that we don't live where it snows. I wonder if people in the cold places look at us with horror when the temps hit triple digits for days on end, or hurricanes and tornadoes do their damage. There's always some kind of trade-off, no matter where you live.
ReplyDeleteI know that you are very compassionate, but try not to let it hurt your feelings. Yes, those people are having a hard time of it, but making yourself feel bad on their account doesn't help them or you. Asking God to take care of them is about all we can do.