I made it just ahead of the storm, staying about an hour in front
of it as I drove across Pennsylvania. There was just this
one spot south of Breezewood where ice glittered from all
the trees. The storm dropped a foot of snow by the middle of
the next day.
On Saturday, Wendy, Steve, and Vanessa came over to the Villa
and we had a bit of belated Christmas. Uncle Rick and Aunt
Alice also stopped by on their way to Florida.
Grandmommy opens her gift from Alan, a set of expanding
animals, sponges that absorb water.
I introduced Vanessa to the joys of hot-glueing.
Mother and I spent much of the week going to doctor appointments,
but we did manage to get over to the gift shop for a brief visit.
We got a bit of snow.
Wendy and family came over again the next Saturday.
We played Bingo for prizes of Hershey kisses.
We enjoyed pizza for dinner.
Mother really wanted me to have the heirloom cedar chest that
her father had made. He even cut down the cedar trees and had the
wood cut into boards. So we emptied it out and Steve did
most of the heavy work getting it to the van.
It was quite a nostalgia trip going through the contents of the
chest. The Cowachan sweaters from 1962 were in there, as were
Mother's wedding dress and heirloom quilts. Mother made
this little dress for me.
While the adults were sorting heirlooms, Vanessa worked on
another hot glue project, a house for her pocket pets.
Weather conditions were not promising for the drive home, but
I really needed to get back, so I hoped for the best. It was
definitely snowing going over the Appalachians, but the road
conditions were not as bad as they could have been.
The Somerset service plaza, west of Breezewood on the turnpike.
This plow just kept going back and forth to keep the parking lot
usable.