Part 2, Historic Storm, Martha’s Vineyard, Smallville, USA. MUSICA

The morning after, just before dawn . . .

Yesterday, the morning after/during the historic blizzard of 2015, the first thing I did when I got out of bed was pull back a curtain to look out the window.  The wind was still blowing wild outside and I was excited to see what had happened overnight. I should say I tried to look out the window, but I could see nothing, they were plastered with snow. When I got downstairs I tried again; I started laughing when I saw the storm door in the kitchen.  I tried to push it open, and was stopped by a wall of snow.

I couldn’t see what was happening at the bird feeders either . . .

As it started to get light, the view was a little better on the other side of the house.

But the storm was still going strong . . . terrible winds, blowing snow, cold, burrr…. just like it’s supposed to be this time of year, but hasn’t been.  We wanted it and we got it.

Pefectly wonderful, heat from the furnace streaming across the kitchen floor . . .

We were lucky, we kept our electricity . . .

Inside Smallville, warm and quiet, home is paradise.

Breakfast, Irish steel-cut oatmeal, blueberries, chopped apples & walnuts with cinnamon in my favorite breakfast bowl because it holds lots of milk.

While the storm continued to beat across the island, I painted all morning, glancing up at the TV from time to time to see The Duchess with Keira Knightley (it’s available on Netflix).  What a great movie, all about the amazing, sad, but interesting life of Georgiana Cavendish, the Duchess of Devonshire, 1757-1806, who lived at Chatsworth (Go here for lots of photos of our visit to Chatsworth); it’s where Queen Victoria went to her first grown-up dinner party when she was a sixteen-year-old Princess and that’s where The Duchess was filmed ~ I recognized rooms. (P.S. SO much history here; Jane Austen visited Chatsworth and it’s believed that she used it as the model for Darcy’s estate Pemberly in Pride and Prejudice.) Amazing costumes in this movie too. 

And while all that was going on, this is what went on outside my studio windows. The first intrepid souls were venturing out . . . getting stuck, digging themselves out. People drive around with snow shovels in the car.  They are smart, as one of our Girlfriends said, this is not their first rodeo. 🙂

The birds had kicked off the wall of snow that was stuck to their feeders, and were going at it.

Don’t you just love red in the snow?

So decorative!

Time for more tea in my bird cup ♥

I’m truly a bird person from way back. (Made fabric with letters at one time, I was designing a pillow with it.)

This is the female cardinal . . . she is pretty, but mostly reddish brown, not like her bright red husband ~ Cardinals mate for life,

Soon it was our turn to venture forth . . . I wore the tall cozy comfy “Toggi” boots I bought in England that are impervious to weather. Snow lands on them, they don’t stand for it, they repel it right off; I came in with no snow on my feet! It was 22° outside. Brrrr. I would say, “Girlfriends, you owe me one for this,” but in reality, I probably owe you.  Maybe I wouldn’t have done this if you hadn’t asked, and it was wonderful. So, thank you!  

Look how pretty, I’m standing in front of the barn looking back at my kitchen door and windows.  See Joe’s little path on the porch?  See the red cardinal?

Joe did this, up to the barn and out to the street.

And here we are, in front of the house

That’s a fire hydrant.

The slippery walk to town  . . . It’s not an insurmountable amount of snow, but we do think it’s the most we’ve seen here.

Icicles make nice pictures, we took photos of every icicle in town.

So pretty, sparkly, drippy . . . magical forest type stuff.

And this is Main Street in The Haven. If you’re familiar with the island you know where we are, up at the end of the street, near the stone bank

And here is our bookstore, Bunch of Grapes, Smallville, USA, an island tradition since the early 1970’s.

The guys are out shoveling in full force, like Joe, I think some guys love it.  Joe can’t wait to get out there after a storm — this one wasn’t wearing gloves!  While ME, my fingers are inside leather and on fire from how cold they are.

I like to take pictures of snow in mid-air.

More snow, more mid-air.

We had to dodge these the whole way.  No one yelled at us, “Get home, get the #@!*% off the street, let us do our jobs,” but I’m sure some of them were thinking it. We ran when we saw them coming.

This is in front of Midnight Farm, the store Carly Simon started.

Not too many people going to work!

Cheryl (Stark) owner of the jewelry store on the left, will have a bit of a struggle before she gets through her door.

They’ve dug a narrow path to the drug store entrance on the other side of this wall of snow.

Which is being moved away by one of our island heroes . . . 

Or heroines.  I can’t tell you how much I appreciate these intrepid souls.  Late at night, while the wind is howling and the snow is coming down in weather not fit for man nor beast, we hear the muffled sound of snowplows going by, see the beam of their headlights bouncing off the wall, and get exactly the same feeling we had as children after we went to bed and were lulled to sleep by the comforting voices of our parents talking in the living room. Safe and protected under warm blankets because we know someone is up and taking care of things.  Someone brave and strong and selfless, like a hero.

Speaking of which, did you see this?  It’s the finish line for the Boston Marathon.  Some unknown person has kept it clear of snow. When I see something like this, it makes me so happy . . .

Walking home through the quintessential New England streets — these houses were all built in the 1800’s. Nothing very much changes around here.♥

I had to move here; I was afraid I might never get a house like these and I could not live my life without one.

My first house on the island . . . Little and perfect and all mine.

She’s going to dig out the Day Care Center at the church.  Look how happy she is!

This, my darling girls, is a picket fence.  Upon which gladiolus grow wildly in the summer.

Some path-diggers cut through the snow like precision jewelers. They say we got 2½ ft. of snow . . . drifts make it deeper in some places, but looking at this, it seems about right.

Yes, slippery, we huffed and puffed.  It was hard work keeping on our feet!

We walked around to the backside of the house to see what it looked like from the back driveway.

For about two seconds we contemplated trying to get to the back door from here . . . but the snow was way too deep to walk through; some drifts would come over our knees . . . we had to trudge back around to the front to get in.

This block of snow was lying in the street, I tested it by first kicking it . . . when it didn’t come apart, I thought:  Ooo, perfect snowball.  But of course I didn’t throw it at him, only threatened.

No they are not. Some are just having fun.

And home, for another cup of tea, more watercolors of clocks, lammies, flowers and written words of love.  All’s well in Smallville.♥

Nothing like coming in from the cold. Worth going out!  It’s gorgeous this morning, the snow is so bright in the sun, people need sunglasses out there; still freezing, street still covered in snow, which seems like it may stay for awhile.  We have two more storms on the way.  It’s good.  I have work to do, and now I don’t have to suffer wishing to get into the garden.

  Oh yeah, almost forgot why I’m here:

. . . as cat-picture delivery system.♥  Everyone needs a purpose, their true calling. 🙂 This is my Raison d’être ♥ (A very useful French phrase meaning “reason for existence.”)

Other raison d’être.♥ We are keeping busy. XOXO Bye for now, Girlfriends, hope you enjoyed the Blizzard of 2015!