Snow big deal

Winter remembered us over the weekend and brought a nice little blizzard our way. From very early Sunday morning through the evening hours, about a foot of snow landed in Providence, stirred and driven sideways by stinging winds. Everyone had plenty of time to prepare the day before, and it was cozy being indoors all day. Daisy and I went out twice into the storm, and we enjoyed the traffic-free streets and the virgin snow on the field next to Brown Stadium.

Usually I stay away from so-called memes that circle the Internet, but here's one (with a few adaptations) that I felt inspired to personalize.

Four Jobs I've Had
• Editor
• Staff writer
• Waitress
• Ice-cream maker

Four Movies I Can View Repeatedly
• A Room with a View
• The Princess Bride
• Star Wars (all but Phantom Menace)
• Witness

Four Authors I Love
• Annie Dillard
• Ellen Gilchrist
• Patrick O'Brian
• Lorrie Moore
(and many others)

Four Places I've Lived
• Mattapoisett, MA
• Elmhurst, IL
• Riverside, CT
• Little Compton, RI

Four TV Shows I Love
• Law & Order: SVU (current)
• Hill Street Blues (old)
• The White Shadow (old)
• All in the Family (old)

Four Places I've Vacationed
• New Orleans (sigh)
• Sicily
• Ireland
• Champlain Islands, Vermont

Four of My Favorite Dishes
• Chicken Shwarma
• Gyro sandwich
• Caesar salad
• Lasagna

Four Places I'd Rather Be Now
• At the Turin Winter Olympics
• Anywhere in Italy
• San Francisco
• Somewhere in the Caribbean

Four Memorable Pets I've Had
• Iggy the dimestore turtle (red-eared slider) who lived to age 12
• Tammy, my family's wonderful golden mutt
• Bonnie, our three-legged German Shorthaired Pointer
• Daisy, our current mutt and my staunch companion
Honorable mention: Blueberry and Chip, our current parakeets who greet me with loud birdie love music as soon as I turn the key in our front door.

Four People (Not My Parents) Who Changed or Influenced My Life
• Nanny Girthofer: my dear great-grandmother who loved me, spent endless time coloring and making collages with me, fed me my oatmeal, and still watches over me even though she died when I was five
• Grandma May Poenack: storyteller, lover of people and life
• Rev. Donald Finley: our Congregationalist pastor in Mattapoisett, who invested love and time in us teenagers and showed us how joyous and fresh worship could be
• Marguerite Santopietro: our kids' preschool teacher, who adored children and by example showed me how to balance loving acceptance and firm guidance
Well, and too many more people to fit into a four-slot list.

Four Writers Who Influenced Me
• e.e. cummings
• C.S. Lewis
• Annie Dillard
• Loren Eiseley

This was harder to do than I'd expected. The nice part is that in considering choices, I realized how many books and movies I've loved, how many people in my real life have been important to me, and how rich life has been so far, in general.

And now, a few recent photos of my darling teenagers.


Melinda in her Winter Ball finery


Kevin and Daisy