A Winter of Surprises

There are times when I reap the benefits of living in a small New England town, and find enjoyment in the depths of winter. Take last Thursday, when I took the truck to the dump to get rid of two week’s worth of cafe recycling. I thought ahead to an anticipated Monday snowstorm, and brought a huge plastic tub and a snow shovel. Like in many small towns, one perk Deerfield offers its citizens is free sand and salt. I opened up the salt shed and filled up my tub with a perfect winter recipe–sanded salt topped with about two inches of big rock salt.

I left the tub and the shovel and went to finish my recycling…then promptly drove away, forgetting to bring the heavy tub, and didn’t realize it til I got all the way back to the cafe. I drove back to the dump and it was gone. I asked my pal the dump-master who said he hadn’t seen anything. Then when I got back to the cafe, I found that someone had brought that heavy tub back and left it next to my office door. The tub weighed so much that it took two people to move it…and I did not even get a chance to thank this good samaritan with a free coffee!

Last night I got invited on a winter date. I didn’t know where we were going–that’s part of the fun–and we ended up at Northfield Mountain for a moonlight snowshoe. Two groups were organized for the event…one taking a rambling walk and the other a little more vertical. It was cloudy as we headed out into the quiet night and todays wind was starting to pick up. We glanced the perfect harvest full moon that peeked out through the passing dark clouds. All we could hear was the ch ch ch ch of our snowshoes on the crusty snow.

With winter, there are two ways to go…wishing for Spring, and diving headfirst into activities like this that provide their own unique pleasures. And as I found out, sometimes it brings out the best in people.