In the UK we are in utter chaos, as usual, with snow. It always seems to be unexpected with little preparation . Everyear we hear that we don't get much snow so it is not worth being prepared. I am just seeing a nice sunset with snow on the ground. Temperatures have been below freezing for several days here - about 60 miles north of London. I'm curently listening to Avalon Sunset (Van Morrison) - pure coincidence!
Buffalo. My husband spent a college quarter in Buffalo (work/study) -- he lived with an aunt while he was there. He remembers that as the worst winter of his life due to the weather. And that includes having been on a 3-month plant startup near Montreal, just before Thanksgiving to the first week of March one year.
Buffalo's at the south-east corner of Lake Erie, which seems to be the prime spot for lake effect. I grew up at the south-east corner of Lake Ontario, so I know my snow. In 2007, the week our first baby was born, my parents got hit with between 8 and 9 feet from one storm. We're in Rochester, directly south of the lake, so we don't seem to get as much as in the corners, and sometimes the lake effect "hops" right over us to dump to the south. We still occasionally get killer storms though.
All it takes to qualify as a killer storm hereabouts is six flakes of snow in the sky at any one time! Seriously, an inch or so of snow paralyzed the city of Raleigh a few years ago.
Now the forecast is calling for a "chance" of snow Saturday night. We'll see...
I was in D.C. for the big blizzard they got hit with in February - it was weird to see a major city shut down like that. It was quite silly of us to be there - we had planned to visit my sister-in-law, heard a blizzard was coming, thought "we can handle the snow" and moved our trip forward by one day to miss driving in the snow. We handled the snow fine, but we were still locked in. Luckily our hotel was walking distance from her house.
We do get 12"+ snows in Central NC--maybe one every decade or so. Of course, within a week of such snowfall, the temps are usually back up in the 50s if not warmer. Otherwise, most areas would never get cleared--even in the larger cities, only the major roads get plowed.
Ice storms are far more common & much more dangerous. About seven or eight years ago, a December ice storm knocked out power for up to week in some neighborhoods. Not fun.
Well, pzeke, we had a heck of an ice storm last year - somewhere end of January/early February. Our power was out for five days, and of course, crews came in from all over. The men who got our street up and running again were from NC. Nice bunch of guys. I resorted to buying a sleeping bag because I was so cold I couldn't sleep. Tore our trees up!. We had a stack over 5 feet high, about 60 feet along the street, and the branches were cut 4 feet long. It was either pay to have someone haul them out, or find someone with a truck willing to haul them for you. Most of us decided to let the city haul them off. It took them until April to get it done. They panicked, not wanting out of town visitors to the Kentucky Derby to see the mess. It was surprising how quickly the job got done then. They contracted with some private tree crews to help get the job done.
Ouch! I've been lucky in that regard: my worst storm experience was back in '96, after Hurricane Fran ripped through this area: the area where I lived didn't get power back for nine days. But at least that was in the heat of early September; even better, I wasn't yet a homeowner.
Your Kentucky Derby comment brings back a memory from that time: even though most of Raleigh was without power and covered with fallen trees, less than 48 hours after Fran's arrival, the NC State football game went ahead as scheduled. Good to know our society has its priorities straight...
I have to tell you that this thread makes me want to visit Kentucky. You and Jonahpwll make the state sound beautiful.
Big flakes to greet me this morning. This is gonna stick.
It'll be coffe&irish cream with comics this morning, working on the book this afternoon, and probably movies and delivery pizza tonight. I hope the snow doesn't stop 'til my head hits the pillow later tonight.
I have the next two days off. Time to be a house husband, and then maybe, just maybe, go through those boxes of CDs burned from my eMu downloads.
I've got just about all my emu, Amie, and Amazon discs burned and have slowly been putting them in slim jewel boxes with album art slipped into them. Next, I will decorate the small cardboard boxes I'm storing them in.
I am totally geeking out on this arts & crafts project and terrifically proud of my progress so far.
Most of my CDs are stored in plain white sleeves with nothing more than the artist and album title written on the disc with a Sharpie. And I'm both surprised and grateful that I had the presence of mind to do that much...
Snow seems to be turning back to rain, at least for the moment. Ah well, it was pretty while it lasted.
As I commented to Mommio yesterday, this thread make me want to see Kentucky. Does it suffer from the same strip-mall blight that so afflicts just about everywhere else?
Yes, we have strip malls. . . and strip mines. The strip mines are mostly in eastern and far western Kentucky. The beautiful parts are the bluegrass area around Lexington, the mountains in eastern Kentucky, and some of the western part of the state. We have some great state parks, many of them with lodges, lakes, and golf courses. Louisville is a "small town feel" city. It isn't a city like Cincinnati or Columbus, Ohio, but many who are transferred here do not want to leave. Even so, Louisville has some problems, too. Thus far, I haven't been motivated to leave it. I have been here since just before my 20th birthday, and that was a loooonnng time ago.
I love parts of North Carolina -- the Smokies, Maggie Valley, Asheville, the area around Winston-Salem. Daughter did a couple of summer programs at Duke when she was middle/high school, and she lived in Winston-Salem for about six months. I always enjoyed my visits to both areas. I have been a fan of the Smokies to Asheville area since I was a child. That's still one of my favorite areas to spend some time.
Mommio, the North Carolina mountains are beautiful. The coast is nice as well, although the last 20 years have seen way too much development in some spots. In between...lots of suburban sprawl. Raleigh, which is more or less where I live, is essentially one big suburb with a 9-5 downtown (although that has improved in the last 15 years). Charlotte is Atlanta-lite, with NASCAR as its main cultural attraction (not meant as an insult, just the truth). Chapel Hill's funky college-town atmosphere (and cheap cost of living) was destroyed by the yuppies in the 90s. Still, it's home; I wasn't born or raised here, but my paternal family's been here since the 18th century. Short of winning the lottery, I can't imagine living anywhere else...
i vacation regularly in the mountains of NC;
a document of a recent trip:
A cool afternoon breeze whispers the intentions
of the night as the sun pulls long sleeves on the
last stragglers of summer's display then runs off
to chase hardwood artists down hillsides;
the colors, in harmony and protest, settle into place,
breathing in swelling gasps as if exhausted by their
own brilliance;
the water murmurs quietly like an old poet dreaming,
and in its reflection,
it's easy to imagine the original ambitions of the Gods.
Hey, I rather liked that. I'm not much of a poetry fan, but I found the cadence of that passage rather pleasant, the way the words tapped their foot on my brain as I read them silently.
Lexington, KY is one giant strip mall.
Louisville is a lot like Chicago in that it has established neighborhoods that are each a gem in their own personal way.
The Kentucky countryside, especially in the bourbon trail section of the state, is just beautiful. A real surprise to me. I had no idea before being given a personal tour.
We have relatives that live in Durham now. We're gonna try to do a little roadtrip up there soon, maybe in the spring. I've always wanted to spend a day (or two) in Asheville.
The poem was beautiful, thank you, and yes, the NC mountains deserve such tribute. And Asheville is well worth a visit. Spend three days; you'll be glad you did.
I'll let you come to your own conclusions about Durham...
Allow me to plug my friend Dave's Sunday Morning and All That Jazz radio show, found every Sunday from 6-10am on mvyradio.com.
thanks
i wrote it in October and hope it will be published soon
if visiting Asheville, it is also worthwhile to check out downtown Hendersonville; it's about 30 miles south on I-26.
be sure to check out the antique mall called "Needful Things" just off the interstate; the second floor is full of
used books at great prices.
Ha! I've been in the outskirts of Cary for the last year. It has it's problems (money not being one of them). However, I think Durham has more character than you let on. Indeed, it's more like what I wanted Chapel Hill to be like, albeit on a larger scale.
Actually, I like Durham; I just don't know much about it. I used to go to Ninth Street a fair amount in the early 90s (the Regulator is still a great bookstore, I understand), and I have been to a couple of Bulls games, but that's about it.
Cary's actually become interesting: in the 90's it was the ultimate white-bread suburb, a total blob; now, it's got these weird little ethnic enclaves and some great little places tucked away in these anonymous strip malls. Downtown--yes,there is a downtown--is kinda cool too, if only because so few know that it exists!
I just handed off the first twenty two pages of my novel to Katie to read. It's what amounts to the opening salvo. I still have to do a fact check run-through and there's still a bit of editing left, but basically it's done. Approximately 192,000 words, which will be a tough nut to sell at that length, but it is what it is. It comes to about 330 Word document single spaced pages.
I was beginning to second- and third-guess that opening salvo, valid criticisms mind you, but decided that I'd give it to her to read and see her impressions of it. No reason to rewrite it if her impression is different than the ones I was beginning to adopt.
Dunno. We'll see. I'll be glad when the fact check is done and I'm done editing and it's over. Ready to start writing the next book. Not ready for the rejection letters, but that's what a sense of humor and a full liquor cabinet are for.
jonah - If you want snow, we've got plenty to spare up here in Minnesota. Looks like it's going to be the biggest snowfall since the great Halloween storm of 91.
No thanks. I say moderation in all things (except comics, music, alcohol, Pequod's Pizza, Joong Boo Market Snack Shop, playing with my cats, hiking, and, apparently, embarrassing myself with posts like these).
No snow today (coming tomorrow night, at least for a few hours) but cold and windy here in Carolina. Understand our European friends are having an early winter as well. Hope everyone stays warm!
Comments
Now the forecast is calling for a "chance" of snow Saturday night. We'll see...
Ice storms are far more common & much more dangerous. About seven or eight years ago, a December ice storm knocked out power for up to week in some neighborhoods. Not fun.
Your Kentucky Derby comment brings back a memory from that time: even though most of Raleigh was without power and covered with fallen trees, less than 48 hours after Fran's arrival, the NC State football game went ahead as scheduled. Good to know our society has its priorities straight...
I have to tell you that this thread makes me want to visit Kentucky. You and Jonahpwll make the state sound beautiful.
It'll be coffe&irish cream with comics this morning, working on the book this afternoon, and probably movies and delivery pizza tonight. I hope the snow doesn't stop 'til my head hits the pillow later tonight.
Craig
I have the next two days off. Time to be a house husband, and then maybe, just maybe, go through those boxes of CDs burned from my eMu downloads.
I've got just about all my emu, Amie, and Amazon discs burned and have slowly been putting them in slim jewel boxes with album art slipped into them. Next, I will decorate the small cardboard boxes I'm storing them in.
I am totally geeking out on this arts & crafts project and terrifically proud of my progress so far.
Snow seems to be turning back to rain, at least for the moment. Ah well, it was pretty while it lasted.
As I commented to Mommio yesterday, this thread make me want to see Kentucky. Does it suffer from the same strip-mall blight that so afflicts just about everywhere else?
I love parts of North Carolina -- the Smokies, Maggie Valley, Asheville, the area around Winston-Salem. Daughter did a couple of summer programs at Duke when she was middle/high school, and she lived in Winston-Salem for about six months. I always enjoyed my visits to both areas. I have been a fan of the Smokies to Asheville area since I was a child. That's still one of my favorite areas to spend some time.
Carolyn
a document of a recent trip:
A cool afternoon breeze whispers the intentions
of the night as the sun pulls long sleeves on the
last stragglers of summer's display then runs off
to chase hardwood artists down hillsides;
the colors, in harmony and protest, settle into place,
breathing in swelling gasps as if exhausted by their
own brilliance;
the water murmurs quietly like an old poet dreaming,
and in its reflection,
it's easy to imagine the original ambitions of the Gods.
Lexington, KY is one giant strip mall.
Louisville is a lot like Chicago in that it has established neighborhoods that are each a gem in their own personal way.
The Kentucky countryside, especially in the bourbon trail section of the state, is just beautiful. A real surprise to me. I had no idea before being given a personal tour.
We have relatives that live in Durham now. We're gonna try to do a little roadtrip up there soon, maybe in the spring. I've always wanted to spend a day (or two) in Asheville.
I'll let you come to your own conclusions about Durham...
Allow me to plug my friend Dave's Sunday Morning and All That Jazz radio show, found every Sunday from 6-10am on mvyradio.com.
i wrote it in October and hope it will be published soon
if visiting Asheville, it is also worthwhile to check out downtown Hendersonville; it's about 30 miles south on I-26.
be sure to check out the antique mall called "Needful Things" just off the interstate; the second floor is full of
used books at great prices.
Cary's actually become interesting: in the 90's it was the ultimate white-bread suburb, a total blob; now, it's got these weird little ethnic enclaves and some great little places tucked away in these anonymous strip malls. Downtown--yes,there is a downtown--is kinda cool too, if only because so few know that it exists!
I was beginning to second- and third-guess that opening salvo, valid criticisms mind you, but decided that I'd give it to her to read and see her impressions of it. No reason to rewrite it if her impression is different than the ones I was beginning to adopt.
Dunno. We'll see. I'll be glad when the fact check is done and I'm done editing and it's over. Ready to start writing the next book. Not ready for the rejection letters, but that's what a sense of humor and a full liquor cabinet are for.
Craig