Born Lucky: The Snow & I

Author Miriam ("Mim") Herwig, back when snow was snow.

By Miriam Herwig

I was born lucky! In 1923 winter roads were never sanded, which meant that youngsters considered them avenues for sliding. Why, I could step out my door, throw myself on my sled and slide all the way to our one-room school. The only sure traffic on that road was the mailman.

At school, we had an hour at noon for fun in the snow. Besides sliding, "Fox and Geese" was a favorite game, where a circle was stamped out in the snow, with paths radiating from the center. There the fox, who was not allowed to go around the rim, tried to catch daring geese venturing into his domain.

There were snow forts and snowball fights, and on weekends there was sliding on the big hill beyond the school. Here a traverse provided the thrills of a roller coaster, as a group of older kids seated on the traverse careened down a series of steep inclines with screams and laughter.

When warm spring sunshine began thawing the deep snow, crust hard enough to run on would form overnight. Then—oh joy!—we could slide anywhere on the surrounding fields and pastures.

On Sundays, bundled in sheepskin coats, we would ride to church in a green sleigh drawn by a sleek Morgan. Bells jangled merrily as the runners slipped along the packed snow.

Later, when my husband and I became engaged on May 11, 1945, there were snowmen standing tall on my street!

My fascination with snow continued as an adult, crust-sliding with my family, for instance. We witnessed the winter of 1970-71 when 145 inches of snow fell, insulating houses with blankets of white. For a whole month, we could not see out our northern windows because of snow, but the bragging rights offset any inconvenience!

It seemed almost inevitable that, in October 1978, I was given the opportunity to observe the weather in a weekly column. Aha, that Christmas we got 18 inches of snow! We were off to a great start, and I continued for 25 years.

Now we are off on another adventure—a book full of sunshine and snow, wind and rain, called "A Love Affair with Vermont Weather."