The Rural Voice, 1999-02, Page 23as I am sure our parents were, to sec
her home early, with hair and
eyebrows frosted with snow, the
scarf wound around her face so only
her eyes wcrc visible. We wcrc all
safe inside our farmhouse, with lots
of fuel and adequate food, so we
were prepared to wait out the storm.
All that day, through the night,
and into the next day the snow
continued to fall, covering every tree
and building with mounds of white.
My father and brother worked to
clear the snow that piled against
doorways and made a path to the
barn so they could feed and water the
livestock and milk the cows.
The snow finally stopped falling,
but all that week the roads wcrc
closed. The farmers made a track
through the fields so the teams of
huge work horses with their heavy
sleighs could get through to the
village. If we heard the jingle of the
horses' harness coming across the
snowy field, mother might send my
brother running, money clenched in
his hand to ask the neighbour to
kindly pick us up a loaf of bread or
some other essential item. The steam
rose from the great teams of
Clydesdales or Percherons as thcy
strained to pull their loads through
the deep snow.
After the snow stopped falling,
there were gigantic banks of
glistening snow, and we could spend
the whole of the afternoon skiing or
sledding, only driven in eventually
by wet feet or cold hands to warm
ourselves by the kitchen woodstove,
and dry wet socks and mittens on the
open warming oven.
When school opened again that
winter, the snow was so deep that we
could ski to school without having to
hccd the fences that usually impeded
our way across the fields. They were
all buried in snow, and remained so
for many weeks. The trip across the
fields was safer than the narrow
roadways with the giant snowbanks
on either side, where there was no
room to walk safely. Setting off for
school in the morning became an
adventure in itself and lunch hours on
the hill an anticipated joy.
The memories of gifts of winter
joy remain fresh and new, so that I
still look forward to the season of
snow with eager anticipation.0
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FEBRUARY 1999 19