Snow, snow and more snow
The news coverage of the snow piling up in places from one coast to the other makes me glad I live where blizzards are few and far between. But all those news photos of snow drifts (like the one from Spokane, Washington, left) and people bundled up until they look as puffy as the Michelan Man also remind me of the winter of 1977-78. I was in first grade that year, and school was canceled for almost the entire month of January. I think we only came back for one or two days after Christmas break, and then the snow began. It snowed, and snowed, and then snowed some more. And it was hideously cold, too cold to go outside to sled or build snowmen for more than a few minutes at a time.We lived in the country, in a little valley between two big hills (which, coincidentally, looked WAY bigger when I was seven years old than they do now) which we in Kentucky called a "holler." :) It snowed so much that my dad couldn't even get the truck up either of the hills. So he'd bundle up and walk half a mile to the highway, then if he was lucky he'd be able to hitch a ride into town to stock up on groceries for a few days. It was after one of these forays into town that he returned with more than groceries. Sticking out of the big green canvas bag on his back was a new Monopoly game. Thus began the Winter of Monopoly.
There is only so much one can watch on TV when you only receive three channels through an antenna and in the days when TV actually signed off at night, as in they stopped broadcasting. I can still remember how they'd play the national anthem and then the screen would just go blank or to "snow." We'd set up the card table next to the fire and play Monopoly. Well, I and my parents would play. My younger sister, who was all of three at the time, would just play with the Monopoly money. We played so much Monopoly that once the snow receded and I went back to school, I didn't want to see that game board for a good long time. In fact, it's only been in recent years that I've played again. I bought my very own game, National Parks Monopoly, and every once in awhile I can coerce my hubby into playing.How about you? Do you remember playing board games during bad weather? What did you play? Do you remember when TV signed off at night?
If you're in one of the areas being hit with the bad weather or if you're traveling this holiday season, stay safe.
posted by Trish Milburn @ 12:01 AM
18 Comments:
Merry Christmas Eve, Trish! We still do have the three channels that shut off at 2 am. And we most definitely play board games in winter.
I remember toasting bread with this iron handle over the fire when I was a kid and we lost power. We lived out in the country so it was gone for days. We played cards, and read a lot.
I can only remember one instance of 'bad weather' given that I grew up in Los Angeles and moved to Florida. But there was one year, right around Christmas, where the weather was unusually cold for central Florida (27 degrees) and the power company couldn't meet the demand.
We sat around by the fireplace and using the light from kerosene lamps, played Trivial Pursuit. I put the turkey on the patio because I knew it was 27 degrees out there, and wasn't sure what the temperature in the fridge was.
Today, it's going to be heading for 80 degrees.
I loved to play board games but have no one in the family who likes to play. My sisters and I used to play board games all the time when we were kids. Monopoly games were a favorite.
I started writing during a snow storm that had the schools closed. Just like Nora Roberts. My kids were old enough to go sledding on their own and I was stuck inside with a new fire to write. I wrote in a spiral notebook and I still have that story somewhere.
Merry Christmas Eve to you Trish!!
yes, I remember playing board games. I loved to do that and put together puzzles back before the days of writing. I really enjoyed playing uno with my nieces when they were little. They're both in college now. The first time I sat next to the youngest(she was probably 8) she warned me, "You may not want to sit there, Aunt Dianna, because I cheat." LOL - of course, I always wanted to sit there.
Gillian, that toasting bread over the fire sounds fun. And yummy. I'm quite the bread lover. I remember playing cards too -- Go Fish or rummy.
Terry, I'm envious of your 80 degrees, even though it's not that bad today -- in the 50s. Monday was brutal though, didn't make it out of the 20s.
Oh, and Terry, I love Trivial Pursuit. I still have an old version. Need to get a new one.
Has anyone played Scene It?
Diane, I feel your pain. I hardly ever get to play board games anymore. Funny that you and Nora both started writing during a snowstorm.
Dianna, LOL about your nieces cheating comment. :) I'd forgotten about Uno. Used to play that too.
Merry Christmas and Happy Hannukah, everyone. And may 2009 be filled with health, happiness and lots of book sales!
We played a lot of board games when I was a kid, but our favorite thing in winter was to go ice skating. Seems like winters were colder then.
One year when I lived in Tennessee, we had a record cold snap, with frozen pipes for six weeks, and my little bulldog Subaru was the only car that could get in or out of the valley we lived in, so I took a lot of neighbors with me when I went to work.
We have about 2 inches of fresh snow this morning, but a thaw will finally start around noon. Worried about getting my grandson to the airport and off to Phoenix, but flight status is on time.
Later today I'll post a photo of an almost heart-shaped icicle at y back door.
Merry Christmas, Trish -- and hello to all the Noodlers!
I grew up in Southern California so snow was never an issue. But board games? Oh yeah, we played them all the time! Monopoly and Sorry and Clue were the big ones back then. And poker. My mom taught us how to play five card draw and we used toothpicks, then graduated to pennies.
Thanks for the memories and the amazing picture of all that snow!!
Oh, Trish, what memories you bring back. Nothing quite like a good game of Monopoly!
We love board games so much that when I traveled to a school conference I always brought one and the teachers would gather in someone's room (guys and gals alike) and play. That's when you really get to know your fellow teachers!
Our family loves Pictionary, Outburst, or any kind of word game. If we don't have a game available, the girls make one up.
And the snow is so lovely if you don't think about cars stuck in the drifts or people snowed in without food.
I'm glad I live in California!
And Kate, how could I forget poker? We taught all our boys to play with toothpicks, too, and even now sometimes I get included in the games with their regular buddies. Ha, ha, I think they just like to take my money!
Delle, that icicle sounds neat. Safe travels to and from the airport.
Kate, we played Clue too, but I've never played Sorry. I saw there's a new Clue game out based on Harry Potter. I didn't learn to play poker until I married. We'd play penny poker with his family.
Jo, I haven't played Pictionary in several years, but I do enjoy it. One year at our RWA chapter retreat or holiday party (can't remember which), we played Pictionary with romance novel titles. That was funny!
Hey, Miss Trish! Happy Christmas (it's Christmas in Australia already!). What a great post - although it felt quite surreal reading it as I'm in hot, sticky Australia where I think my best place to be today is the pool!
We never got snowed in (ha!) but we sure got rained in. The farm I grew up on was accessed by a low bridge over a creek and in our monsoon season, the creek regularly flooded. I can still remember my dad going out across the fields in the middle of a downpour to buy us some supplies. The car just couldn't get out! When we were little, those were the days Mum and Dad used to bring out the big box of Lego. Endless amusement in a toy like that.
Happy Christmas to all the Noodlers! I hope you all have a lovely day!
Anna, hope you're enjoying a nice warm Christmas down there in Oz.
Wow, that's a lot of snow, Trish! I remember when there were 3 channels and they signed off every night.
My parents got gas logs, back when that meant blue and purple flames coming out of little holes in fake logs--not very realistic and terrible for toasting marshmallows.
We don't get snow very often. We did once get a terrible hurricane, Hugo, which came ashore at Charleston, some 200 miles from us, and blitzed across the Carolinas. We had no power for two weeks. The dh and I played so much Scrabble by candlelight that I'm still reluctant to start a game.
Dianna, my ex-brother-in-law once had a conniption over a Christmas game of Uno because he thought someone had cheated. And he was way older than eight!
Terry I love Trivial Pursuit. Geography, alas, is my weakness. We went to see my cousins in Florida one Christmas, and there was a cold snap so intense that the orang groves were threatened. We'd expected to eat outside, as you describe. Instead, we were all huddled indoors.
Diane, I'm glad you kept that story. I like reading over old drafts, partly because they reassure me that I've learned something in the interim and partly because I'm still fond of all the characters. Do you ever look back at it?
Delle, we're due for rain. I'd rather have snow on the holiday, but it's not to be.
Kate, my grandfather taught me to play Clue, and I still love it because I think of him every time we set up the board.
Best of the season to all the Wet Noodle Posse!
Nancy, I'm geographically challenged as well. My kids knew it and they'd always pick that category if I got to the center.
"I don't do the blue ones" is my mantra
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