A White Christmas, indeed…
Beetle under a Blanket
Well, we are now on our 8th straight “snow day”. Pirrie’s school was cancelled all last week, and we’ve had three different storm systems come in one after the other, piling up snow, ice, and essentially paralyzing Portland and the Willamette Valley. Are we having fun yet?
Fortunately our neighborhood grocery store in Portland has remained open, and we can walk there. We’ve been able to get out on the roads occasionally, but now travel is restricted to chains-only vehicles. We have chains. That’s good, because the night before last the pipes froze at our house and we have no water. So we’ve been forced to move out and check into a hotel (the wonderful Inn at Northrup Station, btw), where we will hang out for a few days until the temperature finally gets back up over freezing (maybe Friday?)
In the meantime, my kids Ally and Kevin (22, 20) are in from college, and were supposed to be out on a flight to Atlanta today. Over 80% of all flights out of PDX have been cancelled the last few days, so it is virtually impossible to get them a flight going anywhere. They were supposed to hook up with their mother in Atlanta and then drive to Chicago to spend Xmas with their grandparents. As of now, we have them booked on a flight to Chicago on the 24th – with no firm expectations that it will actually happen – but at least we’ve got the seats booked and the airline has our money (which of course means absolutely nothing these days.)
Many here are without power, and/or unable to get out of their homes at all, so we’ve got it relatively good, all things considered. Our hotel is right next door to one of our favorite Portland restaurants – Paley’s Place – and we were able to book a table for dinner tonight (probably because we’re right next door and may be the only people who can actually get there tonight!)
We’ll follow that up with our annual excursion for Holiday Tea at the Heathman tomorrow, and then we have tickets to see a musical performance of The Wizard of Oz at the NW Children’s Theater – which is walking distance from the hotel – so we will have a festive time in spite of everything – “malgré tout” as they say in France.
Thiis storm is a massive inconvenience for so many people, so much more than for us, and I am very thankful for my family and our circumstances – we are blessed indeed.
Martha has taken some great photos these past few days (as always.) Here’s our crew sledding out in the street -
Kevin, Me, Pirrie & Ally
And the snow princess, having the time of her life -
Miss P hits the slopes
