What a fun weather surprise on Friday night. I did not expect snow. What I did expect, sadly, was the non-stop plowing of the roads. While I am a fan of safe, non-slippery roads, it was a bit of overkill to watch the sparks flying off the already bare pavement.

Growing up in the snow belt of Western Pennsylvania, I am no stranger to moving the white stuff out of the way. Most folks in town had their own plows to handle driveways. My dad cleared the church and post office parking areas. We never had a snow day from school. The regional junior and high schools were in the “big town” of Bradford. My town of Rew was on a mountain top. The school bus driver put chains on the tires and we were always on time.

Yikes, I sound like the old-timers who claimed to walk to and from school up hill both ways in a blinding blizzard.

I have nearly exhausted any garden observations or comments, so bear with me for a few weeks. One thing I have noticed is that the ivy winding its way up into various trees has no leaves around the bottom four feet of trunk. I had to get hit with the obvious stick to realize deer were the reason.

I like to do last minute Christmas shopping locally. I have two great-grand-children. The toy section at Alley’s always delivers. Violet and I enjoyed some time there traveling memory lane. 

I might add my last minute is also my first. Even the thought of off-island Walmart shopping sends me into a political economic fit. Since it is the season of love and peace, I’ll attempt some self-restraint.

At the end of upper Lambert’s Cove Road there is an (at least) 20-foot tall Rudolf, in a field. It’s one of the blow-upward toys that spends most of the day in a huge plastic puddle. I must say, however, it is a real head-turner.

I’m writing before the Christmas celebration, so by the time this hits the newsstands, it will be over except for finishing the leftovers, adding water to the drying tree and hopefully not dreading the credit card bills.

Okay, I cannot restrain myself — the mention of credit cards brings up the brouhaha that happened last week in the House of Representatives. It seems there is endless debate over why we should continue funding the government. Somehow a non-elected gazillionaire was the spokesman for the not-yet president who got to boss around elected members of Congress?

Elon Musk and Donald Trump — there’s a pair to draw to! Some pundits are calling him President Musk. That cannot sit well with D.J.T. I’ll be popping corn to watch the clash of the titanic egos.