Well, they've been talking about it, predicting, warning, gabbing, and making a huge deal about this BLIZZARD that's coming thru the Northeast. I happen to get rather annoyed when they make SUCH a big deal about weather, though I know it's good to know and be prepared and all that, and can cause a lot of problems. Like the inch of snow that Raleigh got the other day, which apparently brought the city crashing to a halt, caused 1000+ accidents, etc ... much to the disbelief/scorn of the elevator full at work on Friday. NYers just don't get the fact that for a totally unprepared city that has no snow equipment, an inch can really cause problems. At least that elevator-full didn't get it :)
They warned us and it came, and it looks like it's going to stay for awhile longer. In my eyes it's beautiful. Gorgeous in fact. Very windy, still snowing, and yes I'm glad to be inside and toasty warm.
But earlier today it was another story entirely. You see, it started with my husband deciding to go off for a Guys weekend with George and Nathan and apparently about 15 other males, off to George's house upstate to hang out and do guy things and be away from the women. I don't think it involves chest beating and primal screams, but I don't ask. I just know he comes home feeling quite refreshed :) In the absence of the males, we women decided to get together for once, tired of the guys having all the fun. So Debbie (George's wife) and I decided to get together, and who cared what the weatherman was preaching about. So after doing the normal Saturday errands, Douglas and I set off for the West Village. Mind you, I HAD paid enough attention to the weather reports to know that it was likely to be extremely cold out and very snowy by the end of the day, so Douglas almost resembled a cartoon child with Two of everything on, except underwear and shoes. Rather well bundled :) with just his eyes and forehead showing. Hardly room for the rather frequent nose-wiping that he needed due to his cold. I put him in the backpack (which I haven't done for awhile, and found very hard as I'd carried him on my shoulders for a LONG time the night before, and were sore. ah well) and we headed off for the train at about noon in the very lightest dusting of snow.
We arrived at Debbie's and found that Paolo, their 1-year-old, had decided not to take a nap after all. We'd planned to go out to a Children's Art Museum with the boys, and let them get creative and messy and have a ball together while we looked on as proud and adoring mothers or something like that. So after lunch, despite the lack of a nap, we decided getting out was more important and so re-did the bundling process and started out. Debbie had Paolo in the Baby Bjorn on her front, and I had Douglas on my back again. The snow had deepened to about 4 inches or so at this point as we headed for the subway. Not too many other kids/parents about, though we did meet one of Paolo's cousins coming out of the subway who had been to a museum that morning with his dad. We came up and started down the street in the direction of the place, not knowing exactly how far it was, making joking comments that there was no doubt the place was open, after all NYers aren't cowed by bad weather and even though there weren't crowds of parents out, the city was still quite alive. Paolo was falling asleep, eyelashes covered with snow and looking rather dozey ... and despite Debbie's umbrella trying to fend off the snow, the wind drove it in our faces anyhow. We started coming into what looked like a Japanese section of town, and finally came up to the right address, only to see metal gates and dark windows. "Closed Saturday and Sunday due to inclement weather" plastered across the door. We stood there in disbelief, not wanting to admit that they were actually CLOSED, after all WE had braved the storm and not cared that two small children with drippy noses were starting to disappear under crusty lashes and bunched up hoods.
After milling about for a bit and peering in the windows to get a glimpse of the artistic wonderland we were being denied, we decided that to go home in defeat was not acceptable, and so started to hunt for a cafe at which to at least spend the entrance fee we'd planned to pay at the museum. Not much came up in the first few blocks, and I started moving a little slower and Douglas was snuffling and head wobbling on my back, showing signs of falling asleep. Debbie remembered a restaurant she'd been to that was baby friendly and we found it a couple blocks later. We opened up the doors and huddled in the warm entryway before going on in. We came in and practically the whole restaurant turned to stare. I missed most of it, but Debbie said they all were rather fascinated. We decided later it wasn't really due to the fact that we had kids (there weren't any babies or toddlers in there at all when we arrived) but the sight of two people rather COVERED in snow, looking like we'd been walking for miles, not blocks. The snow was really coming down hard. They gave us a booth near the kitchen, and when I put douglas down I discovered not only was he completely asleep, but also completely hidden. I mean totally, the only thing coming out of the part of his hood where you usually see his eyes and forehead was his matted and snowy bangs. That's all. I felt a bit guilty, but at least he was warm and mostly dry! I quickly undid the velcro, and that's when I discovered how sound asleep he was, totally out. Paolo was asleep as well, but soon woke up. After taking off our many layers and shaking out snow, we had a nice time over tea and muffins. Douglas stayed asleep the entire time, bolt upright in his backpack propped up on the floor. Of course he woke up rather groggy and disoriented as we were leaving, and cried for a bit that he wanted to go back and eat at the restaurant and weren't we going to the museum?? The disappointed hopes of a small boy, we promised to go back another day when they WERE open and not afraid of a bit of a storm :)
It's 10pm and still snowing but not too hard, and we have about a foot or so. Everyone that's out has given up on the sidewalks and moved to the ruts in the street, and it's a beautiful and quiet sight, a nice change for this city.