Today started off as a gorgeous day--sunny, temperature at 76 degrees at 9 in the morning when I was preparing for a trip to the library.
But the weather report warned it was not to last, and it did not.
The sky has turned grey and the palm trees are bowing in the strong north wind
while the temperature plummets.
It will be a good night to heat up a bowl of this sweet potato soup with roasted red pepper and toast up a crusty roll to dip in olive oil.
It is a literary day for me. This morning at the library I met with an area poetry group and I felt an instant connection there. Later I will Facebook with two of my Vermont writing partners.
I do miss my Vermont family and friends, but not the winter weather. I have heard too many stories about falling and getting stuck on ice to miss the place itself. I heard from one friend today who fell on the ice outside her back door and could not get herself back up again. After 40 minutes of being sprawled on the icy ground with her husband and a neighbor slipping and sliding all around her and not being able to get enough purchase themselves to lift her, her husband got out his tractor with a bucket loader, scooped her up in it, and drove her to the front door. Can you imagine!
I sure do not miss the snow! Southern California is having nice mild weather, too and I almost feel guilty that so many of my friends are freezing! Your soup looks like just what THEY need to warm up with!
ReplyDeleteSoup looks yummy. "I've fallen and I can't get up!" I've been on the floor/ground too many times myself, and I totally commiserate with your friend.
ReplyDeleteOMG...that story in Vermont has me amazed. I forget what a sheet of ice around a house can be...a barrier to getting out and about. I do not envy those living in this weather!!
ReplyDeleteOh my! Having just fallen, slipped on mud, I can relate to that, but not to it being so icy no one could help me up! A scoop loader on a tractor! Now that's a story.
ReplyDeleteWe are hearing lots of news about weather on the east coast, while here we have s lack of snow. Weird.
To add to the indignity, her coat froze to the metal on the bucket loader! She is bruised, but her face survivied better than yours.
DeleteThe poor woman in your Vermont story, and how helpless her husband and neighbor must have felt. I slipped on ice once and fell backward, bonging my head hard, While trying to get myself up I fell several more times. It was insane. I finally had to roll myself off the icy sidewalk and into the grass.
ReplyDeleteGee, how awful and humiliating. Nothing like that in Hawaii.
ReplyDeleteThe soup looks great! I tend to eat a lot more soup and stews in the winter just to keep warm.
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness, your friend was fortunate not to have broken anything. At some point I`m sure she will be able to laugh at being picked up in the scoop of the front end loader...just not yet.
Hope the warm weather returns soon.
Well I guess, where there's a will there's a way!!!! I would have had a panic attack!!!
ReplyDeleteSo you are in Florida! I'm glad you are staying relatively warm. Sorry to have missed your blog. I had such a crazy quarter last fall and then the holidays and I had this writing I wanted to finish. But now I am back and looking forward to catching up. I have to applaud your neighbor's ingenuity. Tracker. Ingenious.
ReplyDeleteA tractor? Sheesh! I guess there was more than one way to tackle that problem. I hear that it's cold in Florida as well. The news said only Hawaii was above freezing.
ReplyDeleteYour last paragraph describes one my worst fears. Not the falling. Not the being unable to get up again. But the being scooped up with a tractor. Gahd. Husband would dine out on such a story for years.
ReplyDeleteIt is my biggest fear that I will fall while out in our -17 temps and not be able to get help. I do text a friend when I go out and she begins to check on me if I don't text her that I am back in by 15 minutes. Plus we are deep under snow right now. My brother-in-law slipped and fell going to their mailbox last Friday and my sister was at a luncheon. He broke a rib and could not get back to the house. No passers by saw him and finally he managed with great pain to get in the house and hold perfectly still until my sister returned and got him to the hospital. Years ago my aunt decided to go out for her newspaper after her son had been there to check on her and make sure she was in for the night and safe. She fell on the step and he found her there in the morning frozen on the step holding the paper. I am seriously thinking about subscribing to life alert.
ReplyDeleteFalling is a big concern. My biggest motivation in signing up for a yoga class was improving balance. I don't know much about life alert, but it is worth looking into for some peace of mind.
DeleteThat soup looks so yummy!! I am thinking of all those in frigid temps!
ReplyDeleteNummy soup! Glad YOU are warm!!!
ReplyDeleteCheers from Cottage Country Ontario , ON, Canada!
What a story and you know that one will be retold for years. I think we seniors need to be taught how to fall and not get hurt. There is a knack to it. Something about tuck and roll. Think I will work on that.
ReplyDeleteThat soup does look good.
Mmm, your soup looks delicious! Palm trees bowing in the wind, even if it is a cold wind, sound good to me. I am missing plant greenery. We have about twelve inches of snow here Our streets, even though they have been plowed and salted, are still white with packed snow. We are supposed to have warmer temps and rain by the weekend. I hope the snow goes.
ReplyDeleteWalking in snow like this makes my bad knee hurt, so I am hoping to stay in until there are more paths shoveled. A few years ago I bought a pair of slip-on rubber shoe/boot soles that have little metal spikes on them. They really work to keep me from slipping when walking on ice, snow, or slush. I don't feel like they are safe to drive in, so once I get to the car, I slip it off my driving shoe, and put it back on when I get ready to get out of the car again. I don't remember which mail order catalogue I got them out of, but I would definitely recommend them to anyone who hates walking on ice and snow.