Kathleen Donnelly

SECLUDED: The author’s yard might not be weed-free, but it is an oasis of greenery. (Photo courtesy of Kathleen Donnelly) Being outdoors is a joy for me, especially working in my yard. In spring and fall, I usually spend an hour each day sprucing things up outside. I hesitate to use the word “garden” because it’s full of weeds. My neighbor is a master gardener. We talk about flowers and plants over the fence. The difference is my neighbor has no weeds. She works hard pulling every last one.

Is it junk or junque? I have a drawer where I keep all the correspondence materials I use. It is filled with stamps, pads, pencils, pens, tape and the hordes of address labels I get in the mail. Then there’s my kitchen cooking accessories that fill up another drawer. It’s stashed with items like strainers, knives, bottle openers, graters, tongs, measuring cups, spoons and spatulas. It’s a mess, but I usually manage to find what I need.

We’ve all had some stormy times in our lives, but my subject here is weather-related difficulties like snow and hurricanes on Long Beach Island. Many of us have been marooned in place, and we all have tales to tell. Snowstorm and flood stories abound all over the world. It’s said that the Scandinavians have at least 50 different words to describe snow. I only have a few, but I’ll do the best I can. The first snowstorm I remember seemed miles high, but I was only 5 years old.