2011: Georgia Winter

Ramblings on Winter in Georgia

December 12 & 13 We had a beautiful snow fall at Big Canoe and I was not able to drive the car on the slippery mountain roads. It was delightful and only lasted a few days. This was the earliest snow that I can recall in GA. Most of those years were in Athens but friends here at BC feel the same way.

December 21 Winter Solstice ( Beginning of winter) Weather forecast for Christmas day was freezing rain/snow for BC and Atlanta! What to do as I usually drive to Atlanta on Christmas Day? So I decided to book a room in a motel in ATL for 3 nights (24, 25, 26) just to be safe.

December 23 I have spent the 23rd with my former student, Ben, his wife Dawn, son (not this year) and his younger brother, George, who came with me to Japan with the study group a few years ago. They used to come to BC but they have 3 dogs now so I go to their house about 90 min drive from BC. We had a great dinner, lots of talk and wine, to bed late.

December 24 We were all up @ 9 AM for a big breakfast and endless gift exchange. Page called to tell me to come on that night for dinner and mid-night Mass at the Catholic Cathedral and to stay over night. I told him about my plans with a room already booked so we were prepared for the snow. I drove back to BC, packed up the car with gifts for ATL, changed clothes and left. However, I left most of my clothes @ BC so I had to turn around and go back! Stupid me! I finally got to Page’s by 7 PM, we had our cocktail hour, conversation in front of the fireplace blazing and exchanged our gifts with Jeanne’s mother, Soon-Hee, joining us. Then a Scottish dinner which Page cooked — cock-a-leekie soup, steak and sausage pie, veggies. Later I realized this was our Christmas dinner! Due to the snow expected the next day. I always make English plum pudding for Christmas dessert so we had that with flaming brandy. We left at 10:30 PM for church to get seats and there were many people there already. Lee was the oldest of several boys who helped with the service. Lee carried the Metropolitan Cross for the archbishop both into and out of the service plus he held the book for the archbishop to read from. We had beautiful Christmas music and I enjoyed that. Then I went to my motel.

December 25 Christmas Day It had started to snow but the roads were OK. I had a simple buffet at the motel and went to Page’s for lunch, which was a sort of Korean New Year’s soup with the won tons but not the sliced mochi. That was a treat and finished our holiday meals — almost. I left to see a movie, ”The King’s Speech”, about King George VI and his speech problems. It was a very interesting movie and I enjoyed it a lot especially due to my undergraduate degree from UW-Madison in speech therapy. The snow kept falling but the roads were OK. So we had a White Christmas, not usual in Atlanta.

December 26 The roads were clear so I went to the High Museum to see an exhibition of the work of Titian and painters of the Venetian School and then enjoyed “True Grit” in the afternoon. Jeanne’s mother had us all for a Korean dinner at night with many courses and side dishes. The roads were still OK but the ground was covered with snow and the neighbors were making a snowman at night.

December 27 I had to drive from Atlanta to Athens to pick up mail and a few other tasks. But Athens had more snow than ATL so I called to find out if the roads were OK and was told they were. But I left my keys for the house @ BC so Andrea, who takes care of the house, met me to get me inside where I had an extra set. I called BC to see if the roads there were clear and was told I may need to leave my car at the entrance and security would drive me to my house! I left immediately in case the roads were really bad and would freeze later in the day. However, I was able to drive very slowly to my house and was relieved to be back home. Car in the garage.

January 6 Predictions of show and ice from Big Canoe POA. They are good about keeping us informed about the weather conditions with urgings not to drive. However, everyone does not heed them and cars are often seen in the ditch along the roadways.

January 10 Awoke to a snow fall of 6”. Beautiful! No activity seen in my neighborhood and I was quite content to be a willing prisoner with several day’s NY Times, magazines and books to keep me busy after I finished putting all of Christmas back in boxes and stored away. Temps did not rise above freezing so the snow continued to provide the stark contrast with the dark tree trunks and limbs in the forest outside my window.

January 11 More of the same with fog adding to the atmosphere early in the morning. Warnings again from POA via email not to drive. There were, however, beginning to scrape the main roads. Here we scrape, not plow, roads with 6” of snow. (I believe I heard correctly on the news that Atlanta has a total of 6 or 8 snowplows.) There does seem to be a bit of melting and I plan to don my boots and cold weather gear and explore. Throughout this period it has been both cold and windy. Ahhhhhhh, Brrrrrrrrrrrrr winter in the South.