The steering rack on Jon’s car is threatening to go out again. For the second time in a year. And I’m just so grateful it doesn’t have anything to do with me. (Unlike the emergency brake.) And I’ve been thinking about this ridiculous story. Happy winter weekend everyone!

I’m wondering if you might help me conduct a Little Experiment. I’m going to tell you an interesting true story that happened to me today that I haven’t yet “mentioned” to my husband Jon.

Little Experiment by allie taylor

I’m wanting to find out if he reads my blog. I know he’s subscribed, but I’m just curious if he actually reads it. So mum’s the word, OK? You in?

OK, here goes. So today I head out to my knitting group Ravelry. We haven’t met in a while because I’ve been kind of busy otherwise with the blog, and I usually host it. But one of the other girls kindly offered to host and it’ll be so great to finally see everyone again. We get a group together and carpool over.

It’s a really frigid day, so cold that the local news station says that NH, at the tippy top of Mt. Washington, is the second coldest place in the world right now. IN THE WORLD folks. The NH temperature today is tied with that of Nunavut. I’ve never heard of Nunavut, don’t know where it is. And truthfully I don’t care. (No offense Nunavut-ites.)

But the only colder temperature in the entire world right now besides us and Nunavut is South Pole, Antarctica. WE TUNDRA. Seems like every day is below freezing. And with the windchill, it feels like -30 right now. So yeah, we’re gluttons for punishment, because we go out, carpool to our knitting group Ravelry. I drive, borrow Jon’s car.

We wind through backroads to get to her house, such a beautiful drive. She has a lovely home with a long, steep driveway that’s been plowed, but there’s still quite an undercoating of snow, as we had another blizzard storm just yesterday. So we drive down the long, long driveway, make it in just fine, no problems. I know I’ll have to turn the car around when we leave, because I know I can’t back up the steep with the snow.

We go inside, have a delightful knitting time, chat in her greenhouse family room. Basically a glass atrium with glass walls, glass roof. Thankfully heated and insulated.

Spectacular scenery every which way, an occasional clump of snow, looking up thru the glass ceiling.

But it’s so cozy and inviting inside….great company, knitting, conversation, coffee, even a fabulous sour cream pecan coffee cake. Dense and delicious. I really must share that wonderful recipe with you very soon, because guess what? She gave it to me!!! Yay us! She’s quite the cook, royally spoiled us.

So while we’re chatting, knitting, her husband comes home, parks next to me in the driveway. When it’s time for us to go later, he kindly backs up in the driveway just a short distance on the side, gives me space to turn around. So I pull forward with great difficulty in big snow tracks into their garage, narrowly miss their doorframe. Close call, phew. (Worse, I have an audience.)

Slowly, I back out of the garage, the car seems sluggish. I’m getting ready to tackle that steep, snowy hill. So they coach me to get a good running start before I gun it up the hill. I do what I’m told, promptly get stuck. I’m spinning my wheels dangerously near his car, sliding forward far too close. He’s smiling, but it’s that nervous smile. Know what I’m sayin’?

Remember, my car is chock full of knitting friends. So I let up on the gas, let the car roll back, try again, push the pedal to the medal. Stuck again. I see our hostess outside, wildly motioning to me. I roll down the window.

“Allie, Allie –  your back wheels, they’re not even turning!” she yells.

And then it suddenly occurs to me. Like an idiot, I’ve left the emergency brake engaged. Yes, I’m trying to gun up this snowy, steep, icy hill with a carload of passengers within millimeters of another car with my emergency brake on. Yeah, I think you’re starting to catch my drift why I might not have told Jon this story yet.

So we all weakly laugh, ha ha ha, and I release the brake and we attempt it a third time. Thankfully we have no problem getting up that snowy hill. I drop off the passengers one by one, the last in front of my own house where she parked. I wasn’t even going to go inside because I’m heading north to pick up kids from school. But the snow is bright and I’m really needing my sunglasses for the afternoon sun. So I run inside quick, grab my shades.

I come back out, roll back down the short steep driveway, put the car in drive. The car’s not responding so well.

There’s a lot of snow, ice and frozen slush out in front of our house right now, but I just can’t believe how the car won’t even go. So I lay on the gas pedal harder, sliding sideways. Basically, I’m stuck in the middle of the road, in front of my own house. And now I’m paranoid someone’s gonna come around that corner, hit me hard in the middle of the road. I’m scrambling for the hazard button on the dashboard of his car, pushing the pedal hard, when suddenly I realize the problem. You guessed it. The emergency brake. Yup, twice, in the space of half an hour. Guess I should be hoping (and praying) right about now that he doesn’t read this blog….

Related post: Misery Loves Company

The post Little Experiment appeared first on Through Her Looking Glass.

So you know what frost heaves are, right? If you’re not from around here, you might not. Frost heaves are part of the carnage that is our New England roads in winter. It’s rough driving here in winter for many reasons including snow and ice. Then frost heaves jump in the mix. They happen when the ground freezes underneath the road, makes lumps and bumps in the pavement all winter long. Like a choppy amusement park ride. It’s usually ok, we make it through. Might get a blown tire in the process. (Just happened to me: Neon Sign In The Sky)

But the real chaos? That comes when spring arrives. The ground thaws, those bumps and lumps shrink down, cause the pavement to buckle as the ground beneath caves. The roads are a mess here in winter, often a mess all spring and summer as road crews repair the winter carnage. (Hint: fall is a nice time to drive in New England.)

So yesterday I pick Charlie up from school, take a right out of the parking lot. There’s a road crew on site fixing some pretty horrendous buckling pavement from the frost heaves. There are some big craters in the pavement I’ve been avoiding every day for weeks now. The opposite side of the road is completely blocked off. All the cars ahead of me on my side go ahead, but I’m the lucky one.

The construction “police” motions me to stop and wait so the crew can smooth out a huge pile of gravel and dirt into one of the big holes with a backhoe. There’s a car length or two between me and the construction workers. Suddenly the huge double cab pick-up truck behind me lays on the horn. (At me???) Then pulls around fast in front of me, too close, crowding the construction workers. The next car behind that truck pulls into the left lane of blocked road, just beside me. Now there’s cars piling up behind me. Huge snowbanks to my right. I’m literally hemmed in on every side. And out of the passenger side of that big double cab pick-up in front of us jumps an angry little lady in hot pink stretch pants. I use the term “lady” loosely. She screams, throws her hands up, gestures obscenely at the construction workers trying to do their job. Charlie and I watch wide-eyed. I guess they’re in her way and she has to wait for a minute? Yeah, this is the crew working in the freezing to fill in the gargantuan abyss so she doesn’t blow a tire, fall in. That crew.

And it’s not only frost heaves, construction crews and screaming women in hot pink pants we have to be concerned about around here right now.

Think antlers. FYI, I’m working on a very interesting moose blog post. (Soon!)

We’ve had a few frost heaves, lumps and bumps in our kitchen this winter too. Remember my broken dishwasher? Well it’s still just that. Broken. It’s getting to be real irritating too, because the left side of our kitchen sink is tiny. (That’s what we use to drain/dry dishes.) The right side is big, but it’s got this tendency to fill up. Fast. We’ve all been washing dishes by hand for weeks now and everyone’s weary of it.

And the dishes seem to reproduce faster than rabbits. So there was a big pile-up in the kitchen sink yesterday. Seriously just not enough drying room around the kitchen sink for a family of six. But why, tell me why….. did it take me ’til today to figure this out? Just realized that I have TONS of drying space in my kitchen. Seriously, just had this epiphany this morning. Tons of drying space, underneath my kitchen counter….inside that broken dishwasher. HELLO!

Now that, is an epiphany.

And why it took so long for the lightbulb moment, I just can’t say. I came home today, washed up that mess of dishes, and now they’re drying on those lovely empty dishwasher racks! Thrilled with my “new” drying racks! Score!

One last note. I’m adjusting my posting schedule to four to five times weekly on Through Her Looking Glass in the coming weeks, as I’m also focusing on growing other aspects of the blog. You know if I had it my way I’d post eight days a week, because I absolutely love writing here. Wanted you to have a heads up, no surprises. Thanks for taking the time to drop in and visit Through Her Looking Glass. Makes my day to know you enjoy spending time here. Have a super weekend! Tell us what you’re up to this weekend, what’s on your mind…

You may also enjoy: Misery Loves Company

The post Frost Heaves appeared first on Through Her Looking Glass.

Hello friends, and a very happy Monday to you all! Greatly looking forward to sharing some Recent Winter Sightings pictures on THLG today.

Not much has changed here in New England since last Monday. Last Monday it was snowing. Like I said, not much has changed here. The snow is falling again today at an alarming rate, we expect an additional 14-20″ by the time this storm wraps up tonight. I’m not going to do any more mathematical computations for you regarding how much snow we’ve accumulated. It’s getting ridiculous, we can barely see out the windows. The numbers are rising right along with the snowbanks, and as you’re likely aware, math isn’t exactly my forte.

A kind southern friend sent us pictures of the beautiful blooms in his front yard yesterday.

We tried to return the favor of a front yard shot, but were unable to force open the front door on account of all the snow and ice. It was also already dark, so this was the best we could do.

So no big changes here since last week, except that last Monday I was unwisely venturing out on foot into a wild snowstorm to meet a friend for lunch. (Catch up on that: Baby It’s Cold Outside.) And I found out just yesterday at lunch that apparently all my boys were hedging bets after I walked out the door into that raging storm as to whether I’d make it the two blocks to the restaurant or wind up in a snow bank. Sweet, huh? As you know, I did make it, thank you very much. But not without a fight. (And I will not be repeating that misadventure today.)

Thought you’d enjoy some of my Recent Winter Sightings, so sharing pictures with you today. Enjoy!

We call this good ole’ fashioned Yankee ingenuity.

How ’bout those triple decker icicles?

Tricky to see a white car in the snow these days….

This picture is from two storms ago. Just imagine how high the snow is now…

Lots happening indoors too. Darth has the Chik-Fil-A cow captive on Charlie’s bureau.

We don’t exactly dress up dolls here…

We do other things…

Like build blanket forts.

Well, that’s all for today. Have a great day and a great week. If you have any fun snowstorm memories, do share! We’d all love to hear your tales. I have a few from the Blizzard of ’78 myself. Maybe you do too?

Related post: Misery Loves Company

The post Recent Winter Sightings appeared first on Through Her Looking Glass.

Folks, it’s bone chillin’ cold here in New England these days. This afternoon, the thermometer read a whopping 23 degrees. Now it’s 14 and dropping. That might not seem wicked cold to you, but it’s a dry cold, if you know what I mean. Ha. (“It’s a dry heat” always gets me.)

Another World by allie taylor

Seems like just yesterday we moved back to New England. In reality, it was 2004. Eleven years and a few days have quickly passed since moving day. Some of you reading this were present the very morning the moving truck pulled away from the curb at the Jenkins’ Oak Creek home in South Carolina on January 1st. We’ll never forget your many generous helping hands and gracious send-off. It took a numbers guy to get the last three book cases crammed in the back of truck. (Thanks Blix.) Our eyes brimmed, spilled, and yours did too… but we didn’t say goodbye. No, we said “until we meet again”, then pressed the gas pedal headed north towards our next life chapter.

We arrived here mid-snowstorm on January 2nd. Maneuvering that big yellow Penske moving truck, we hit snowy Boston rush hour traffic and continued wending our way north. It was quite the adventure. (Thank God we had good friends to help.)

Back then we had just two little boys, three and five, both South Carolina born.

The January we moved back to the Northeast just happened to be the coldest on record for decades. Figures. My blood had thinned in the south, and my feet were always freezing.

But our little guys? They were practically in shock with the -10 and -15 degree days.

Within a week of arriving, Jon filled a pulpit in St. Albans, Vermont. St. Albans rests on the Canadian border. And just prior to heading north to St. Albans, the heater in our old Volvo wagon died. So we had to borrow a car for the northern trek. Stopping for a fill-up and dry gas for the tank in northern VT, another customer said the thermometer read -40 degrees at his house that morning. We’re talking freezing. Frigid. Antarctica and Siberia.

In the wee hours that morning, we’d bundled up for the trip. My kids resembled Ralphie in The Christmas Story movie, practically immobilized. Scarves, hats, puffy coats, boots and mittens. The layers made movement difficult, if nearly impossible, especially for our inexperienced little southern yahoos. And we ole’ yankees needed a refresher course too. With a three and a half hour journey north, we were eager to get on the road. Jon managed to get Jacob (3) buckled in with the extra layers, but in the rearview mirror I could see Jonathan (5) struggling.

“Honey, buckle your seatbelt,” I called back. “We don’t want to be late.”

“I can’t,” he moaned, wrestling the seatbelt, mittened and mummified under umpteen layers.

“Why do I have to wear one anyway?” he whined.

“Because,” I answered a shortly. “You were born in this world.”

“I was not born in this world,” an angry little voice replied. “I was born in South Carolina.”

Truth. From the lips of children. New England: Another World.

You may also enjoy this winter post:  Misery Loves Company

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