Camera Phone Fun, Weather Edition

I don't know if you heard, but it snowed yesterday. You may have heard about it on the news. Maybe you looked out your window at some point during the day and saw white, blowy flakes swirling off of cars and windowsills.

Since it was a weekend, I kind of enjoyed this storm. I didn't have to trudge to the T and wait for a crammed one-car train to come by. I stayed in bed late. I made pumpkin bread. I resolved to go out and play snow football.

I learned that it is nearly impossible to find a Zipcar before a snowstorm. I managed to get an SUV for an hour and a half on Saturday so I could do a Target run to buy soap, a soft-bristle toothbrush, a small football, and a sled. Unfortunately, the person who had the car before me was running late, so I had to wait in the cold for half an hour and had to do danger stunt driving to get to Target and back within an hour.

I bought the bluest football in the world. I needed a mini-football since my hands, while large, still don't grip a regulation-size football well enough. The mini-footballs at Target were either a shiny, patent-leather blue or red. I chose blue, and bought a sled that resembled a short yoga mat with handles. The top is a thin layer of foam, while the bottom is a slippery plastic. I grabbed at my purchases, and left the mayhem of Target and sang Mary J. Blige songs in the car on the way back home.

Anyway. I organized my underwear drawer, and threw away the inexcusably gross old pairs. I called my Mom. I talked to people online. Marianne called me at one yesterday to see if snow fun was still on. We agreed to go to the Common so the folks downtown didn't have to come all the way out to Brookline. Kristen, Marianne and I got on the T and went to meet Annette at Park Street. While Kristen and I waited, a guy saw me carrying the sled and called, "We're going sledding too! Come on! We're going to the hill!" I waited for him to tell me to bring my green hat. When we got to the Common, Annette hadn't shown up yet, so we tried to go to Dunkin Donuts. People sat at the tables, nursing their coffees. Two Hispanic women came out, and said, "Closed." Then the cashier came out and said they were closed. We loitered inside 7-Eleven with the homeless guys, and then elected to head back outside and play while we waited for Annette.

I was actually pretty warm and dry during the proceedings. Back in high school, my Mom bought me some Gore-Tex pants from the LL Bean outlet, and I still have them, and they work like a charm. I layered them with fuzzy white pants and sweatpants to keep my legs warm. Unfortunately, they are bright teal. And my coat is a pinkish-magenta red. So I look kind of like the nineties exploded when I go out to play in the snow. Much like the bright blue football, at least you know you won't lose me in a snowdrift.


It is cold and snowing.

Kristen and Marianne started pushing each other, trying to see who could push whom over. I stood on top of the yoga-mat sled, named Wham-O, and tried to snowboard down the path that had a thin layer of snow on it. I didn't get too far. I pulled Marianne along the path, but even that wasn't going so well. I jumped into a snowbank ass-first, and forgot that the snow was really fluffy, and landed hard on my ass. Yet another bruise to add to my extensive ass-bruise collection.

Annette showed up, and we started into the park more to find a hill to try the sled on. We crested the hill and saw scads of kids with various types of sleds and snowboards trying to get down the hill. I set down Wham-O, and inched myself forward. Marianne pushed me. I went about two feet and ground to a halt. Marianne got on the sled, and I pushed her. She ground to a halt. I tried to stand up and slide down the hill and still didn't get anywhere. I think if it had been a wet, hard snow, the sled would have flown. Instead, we used it as a goal marker for snow football.


Kristen and Marianne survey the playing surface.

Kristen and Marianne were on one team (the Reds) and Annette and I were the other team (the As). The Reds ran the ball first, Marianne being taken down by me right before the goal (the lightpost). They had a successful field goal attempt, and then Annette and I ran the ball in for a touchdown, Marianne around my waist as I fell, the ball landing within the endzone. The Reds ran in a touchdown with a nice fake shovel pass, and Annette and I tried to toss the ball around. Annette QBd, and threw the ball my way. Of course, it hit me in the face and I have a stunning goose egg in relief on my forehead.

Since we're not kids anymore, we started to get cold. Marianne's eyebrows were thick with snow. We lost interest in tossing the football, and started just trying to tackle each other. We played with a cute dog in a Red Sox shirt. Kristen couldn't put her arms down.


"Put your arms down when you get to school!"

We then walked toward some odd things half-buried in snow that looked like blue plastic. Annete walked ahead of me, but took a slightly different path. I tripped and nearly broke my head open on this:



A remnant of the aptly scheduled Winter Festival the day before. We unearthed about five chunks of ice left to die on the ground. I'm kind of mad I didn't have my actual camera with me-- there were lots of lovely shots to be had.


Such as this one.

I took my hat off to itch my head, and everyone laughed. "Your hair is SO Flock of Seagulls right now," Marianne cried. I went to rearrange it, but Kristen stopped me and had Marianne take my picture.


How fucking '80s am I?

We got cold, and decided to walk up Beacon Hill with Annette and catch the T home from Park Street. It was a cold, slushy walk, but all the brownstones looked beautiful. It was quiet, except for the random Audi driving by at irresponsible speeds. The cars were snowed in, and, for once, there was not a tourist in sight. Marianne, Kristen and I had an irresponsible amount of beer at the Publick House to reward ourselves for our snow cardio.

Now, while those lazy bastard Boston Public School kids don't have school today, I trudged into work like a responsible person. I am of the mind that if it's dangerous enough for students to stay home, the people who make books for students to learn with should also stay home, since we are the educators of the future, and if we all die off in snowdrifts on the way into work we can't do that job well anymore. Also, I am lazy and a tad hungover.