Charity’s Column: Snow day

On a mild afternoon early last week, I spotted the first reliable sign of winter. I saw it on the windshield of our neighbor’s car, and it wasn’t precipitation.

“Wipers up!” I cried.

The next day, business was brisk at the Shelter Island Hardware Store. I was there for battery-operated Santa lights (they are adorable) but Dave Gurney was tending to a steady stream of customers, several of them in need of a tarp or devices for securing the tarp to their woodpile, kayak, etc. against the storm.

A man approached the cashier ready to purchase a blue snow shovel as tall as he was, with an ergonomic handle that evoked the undulations of an octopus. He also bought a bag of caramel candy, which he explained would give him the stamina to do what might have to be done if we really did get a foot of snow.

That evening at 6:51 a phone message from School Superintendent Brian Doelger made it official. Thursday would be a snow day. If civilized leadership from public officials in 2020 has been lacking, the trend was reversed by Mr. Doelger’s words, “I hope you all enjoy the day outside playing in the snow as much as possible.” 

I interpreted his statement to mean that everyone should take a snow day, students or not.

Fourth grader Eliza McCarthy followed the principal’s advice strictly in spite of still being under doctor’s orders not to go out sledding with a broken arm. (She’s healing.) As soon as an inch had fallen, she made snow cones. She started a snowball fight with her mother, tried and failed to build a snowman (the icy snow would not pack) and had to settle for chasing her dogs Bella and Apollo around the yard, and “feeding them snowballs.” Her mother said no to attaching the dogs to the sled.

In Rainbow Park, second grader David O’Hagan Klenawicus took advantage of the enticing hill a snowball’s throw from his front door as his mother stood nearby; wrapped up tight, and urging caution as he slid all the way down.

On Goat Hill were kids of all ages with sleds, snowboards and discs. The double diamond black run on North side of the 4th hole was a sheet of ice and even the tamer blue run across the driving range was fast, but still deposited sledders a safe distance from New York Avenue.

Lora Lomuscio’s teenagers Myla and Leonardo reported that someone showed up with a kayak fitted out like a kind of toboggan, and gave as many as six passengers a thrilling ride.

I missed the kayakers, but did witness purists who avoid using a device, preferring to apply the principles of body surfing to snow, including a log-rolling maneuver that I’ll call the snow cannoli. Picture the well-insured woman in the Allstate commercial who rolls out of bed and onto the street wrapped in her blanket and shower curtain “with a feeling of total protection.”

Cristina Cosentino at Sylvester Manor Farm was trapped indoors working, but took a moment to listen to “Walking in the Air” a song from the old cartoon, “The Snowman.”

“It was my favorite as a kid and it hits me hard with waves of nostalgia,” she wrote.

Alas, snow day was one of the shortest days of the year. It was also the middle of the bow-hunting season, so I skied home at 4 p.m. staying clear of wooded areas, lest I became involved in an accidental biathlon, and saw quite a few deer taking a snow day on the way.

In the parallel universe where COVID never happened, a massive wet snowstorm the week before Christmas day would not be cause for celebration. But here where things are getting real, I’m glad I wasn’t on a train or bus, or faced with the weather cancelling my annual holiday flight to Nevada to see my mother.

Instead my sisters, nieces and mother gathered for an evening latke-fest via Zoom. The Robey women leaned in to alternative potato pancake preparations that would not be tolerated under normal circumstances. Maya and Ellen made a vegan latke using chick-pea water instead of egg, Judy and Marlene used partly-baked grated potato and no egg or flour, and I added grated celeriac to the potatoes and eggs. The three entries–all cooked during a video call that involved putting computers perilously close to heated skillets full of bubbling oil and spitting potato shreds — all looked delicious.

The next morning, I discovered that in all the excitement of snow day, I had neglected to put up my wipers and they were welded to the car by ice.