Had Enough Snow Yet?

It wasn't all that long ago, in Lakewood, that it seemed as if we were going through a whole bunch of easy winters. Oh sure, a couple of times each year, we'd get beat up by the snow machine, (usually during early and late winter, when good old Lake Erie was unfrozen)  but on the whole, it was pretty much a halcyon time of sporadic two-inch snowfalls, interspersed with backyard car washings, kitchen floor mop-ups, and lightweight jackets.

In fact, it probably seemed pretty much that way lately in quite a few North American communities. In that classic old tale, the oldsters often liked to remind the young'uns how they'd tramped off to school through hip-deep snow drifts when they were kids, while the youngsters frequently rolled up their eyes in disbelief.

There were probably more than a few of us in the last several years, who were starting to wonder whether Lakewood was going to become the home of the two-foot high snowman, as there seldom seemed to be enough snow to go around anymore to even make those things that high. Our snow-angel creating efforts, all too often, even started to look like mud-wallowing contests.

Not this year...

This year, quite frankly, reminds me of the years immediately following our move here from Pennsylvania, way back in 1958. Back then, Pennsylvania snowfalls were legendary, and they still can be. Pennsylvania also has a bunch of hills and passes to negotiate, so the phrase "slippery slope" takes on a whole new meaning when you are driving (or perhaps better put, "sledding" ) down old Route 8 into beautiful scenic downtown Franklin; the place of my birth.

Actually, during the first school year that we came here, when the snowfall did get up to around half a foot at times, Dad and I would casually make our way out of our driveway and hoof it up to the school in no time... because, compared to Franklin's snow-covered hills, Lakewood's snowfall and topography meant nothing to us! Sometimes, good-natured neighbors would even tease us and say that we had brought Pennsylvania's snows with us when we moved here, but we would merely smile back at them in knowing silence. Looking back at the old photos, it does seem to me that the snows of late '50's, early '60's wintertime Lakewood were indeed pretty heavy, compared to later on in life. Oh sure, many of us remember the "Blizzard of '77", and I recall a few years in the '80's and '90's when we had to dig ourselves out, just like we did just a few weeks ago...but as far as duration, intensity...and plain old "North Pole vibe" went? Our snowy weather around here this year has just been a real doozy, has it not?

The theory of global warming seems to keep coming up as a political and scientific question for a great many people, but here in Lakewood at least, I don't think that we've seen too much of it, at least recently!

Anyway, looking at the brighter side of things, (as is almost always the best thing to do, in any case) just think of the tales that you (who are presently young) can someday regale your children with, when your own hair turns as white as the very snow that has recently covered our ground!

Let's face it, it won't be too long before that same old Lake Erie brings us that famous smothering summer humidity that our area is so well known for. At that point, some of us will, no doubt, once again be longing to see those quintessentially memorable, shimmering, sparkling diamonds atop ermine-white snowdrifts, and glistening treetops on some frosty Lakewood morning. Between both extremes, at least we have some great spring and fall interludes that we can enjoy. The pulse of this city... wouldn't have it any other way!