One of my enjoyable memories as a child is standing around the piano singing with family members as my father played songs from the 40’s and 50’s. I especially enjoyed it when my mother would join us and sing in her clear soprano voice. Although my Dad’s hands were large and calloused from working long hard hours they seemed magical to me as they danced across the ivory and ebony keys to produce beautiful music. Some of my favorite songs were, “How Much Is That Doggie In the Window.” “Sparrow in the Treetop,” “There I Go,” “Perfidia”, and “Jambalaya.”
I thought of my Dad this past Thursday morning when I awoke to see a world blanketed in snow. I found myself humming, “It’s a marshmallow world in the winter, when the snow comes to cover the ground. It’s the time for play, it’s a whipped cream day, I wait for the whole year round! . . .” It was a nice memory as I looked out at the snowy landscape welcoming Stan and I so thoroughly to a New York winter.
This January has officially been claimed as the snowiest January on NYC record. Gratefully, we had purchased a snow shovel and had it in the trunk of our car for such a day as I was looking at. As you can see from the pictures, once Stan was able to get the trunk open, he was used the shovel to dig out our car from the street. (It took him over an hour to dig out.) He was grateful for the offered help of a “snowplow” (alias - garbage truck) driver. Although this help was not quite the same as our wonderful neighbors back in Utah, it still speaks of the kindness of many individuals here in this city. Now with the forecast of more snow this week it seems that our “marshmallow world” will be here for a while longer. (This last storm was great snow sculpture snow followed by mild sunny days. I f I had a few children or grandchildren to help me, we would have found someplace to build a snow sculpture . . . maybe a giant piano with a marshmallow on it.)
