In the Bleak Mid Winter

In the bleak mid-winter

Frosty wind made moan,

Earth stood hard as iron,

Water like a stone;

Snow had fallen, snow on snow,

Snow on snow,

In the bleak mid-winter

Long ago.

Okay, okay, it isn't soooo bleak...we just have had a blizzard! Up above you see the view outside my front door.

Here's my old-fashioned detached garage and the old pecan tree.  

You can have your hot water bottles, your socks filled with rice and microwaved, your electric blankets or your heating pads!  For all out comfort and warmth while the blizzard howls around your hundred-year-old house, up on the second floor, there's nothing like snuggling up with a mutt. 

And she was quite frugal by costing us nothing and giving us everything. Who rescued who?  

Whenever we have severe weather, I feel cozy up in our room.  The thunder sometimes shakes the house, we've had a very weird earthquake which also damaged the Washington Memorial.  We've gone through hurricanes and tornadoes.  Most recently, we've had a blizzard, but the old Shea house at 256 Constitution Avenue still stands unafraid. 

If she could talk she would say, "I am still here. I am unbowed. I have horse-hair insulation. I was built to last with 2x4's that were really 2 feet by four feet. I was built by a craftsman who cared and a family who loved me, not a developer."

The old Shea house at 256 still has a family who loves her very much. The great grand nephew of the original family lives a block and a half away. His uncle did upholstery for the railroad.  He was a generous man who also donated the land for the old school across the street.  Mr. Shea built the house next door for his mother-in-law.

So just like Mr. Shea did, we shoveled the sidewalks, stamped our feet up the steps and on to the front porch.  We made warm comfort foods while snow and ice fell so hard that we could hear the crystals hit the ground. 

The only thing that I can guarantee that Mr. Shea did not do after this storm was acquiesce to the request of the next door neighbor (nobody's mother-in-law) to take a picture of her in a belly dancing costume (no coat on) in the backyard for an online "Snow Goddess" challenge.  

She is an endless source of amusement without meaning to be, if you know what I mean.