(Not) Dashing Through the Snow

Just when we thought we had made it through the winter with negligible snow and ice, we had a winter storm move through the area which started midday Sunday. I canceled plans to go poke around the Virginia Center for Architecture, and stayed home where it was warm & snuggly. I took the picture below from my back door in the mid-afternoon. The snow was starting to stick.

I took the next picture from my front door around nine o'clock in the evening. Sometimes when it snows, the temperature isn't terribly low. This was not the case during this storm. When I woke up the next day it was ten degrees.


I got up extra-early so that I could dig the car out, and get on the road. Since I grew up in the Southland, I am not an expert on driving in snow and ice. I realize this, so my motto is "Slow & steady wins the race." I don't crowd other drivers, I start off slow, drive below the speed limit, and anticipate stops so that the engine slows the car instead of relying solely on the brakes. At 6:00 in the morning, I didn't have many other drivers to worry about. I did see quite a few accidents later in the day. Some folks do not modify their driving techniques for poor weather conditions.

I got to the church where we have our morning meetings, and opened up the building. Soon, a couple of others showed up to help with coffee and setting up the room. The fellow who usually chairs on Mondays called and said he was running late, so he took my Thursday and I handled Monday. Even with the snow & wind, we had ten folks. We usually have thirty or so, which is not bad for a meeting at 6:45 a.m. It's important to be there for anyone who needs a meeting, no matter how nasty the weather may be. The picture below is how it looked at 6:30 outside the church; very pretty.

After the meeting on my way to work, I decided to snap a couple of photos on Monument Avenue. Growing up, we never went to Richmond, but we drove through it on I-64 when we were traveling. I always thought Richmond looked grim and ugly, and later realized that the interstate highway was deliberately routed in a way that would plow through many of the city's poor blighted neighborhoods. All I had seen of Richmond were worn-out ghettos.

My first real view of Richmond came in high school, when a friend & I drove to Richmond to see Virginia Commonwealth University. It happened to be snowing that day, and I remember how beautiful and quiet Monument Avenue seemed in the snow. It was not the Richmond I had seen from the interstate. The next picture shows Monument Avenue facing east. If you kept heading straight in this direction, you would end up in the State Capitol; you would have to side-step the Civil War cannon dead ahead in the picture, however. Our Capitol was designed by Thomas Jefferson, and a new visitors center opened recently, so I'll tell you about that when I become one of the visitors. Soon, I hope.

Next, we are facing west. The grandiose monument to Jefferson Davis is barely visible in the distance. These pictures were taken during a lull. It continued to snow and blow for several more hours.

I've always liked the Mediterranean-style house below. It looks cozy & friendly.

Then we have the austere and imposing Taylor House, which looks cold even in the summer months. The owner, Helen Marie Taylor, spends very little time here. She has a large estate in Orange County where she breeds Arabian horses, and she spends most of her days in the country.