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| Photo from the Hartford Courant archives |
Winters Past
February 1978:
Can it really be 45 years since "Storm Larry", the 1978 blizzard that buried the Northeast? It began on Monday, February 6; by that afternoon, Hamilton was shutting down and we were all sent home early – not to return until three days later.
Sitting in the conference room of a bank in Windsor that Monday morning, I watched out the window as the first snowflakes appeared. I was there to sign the papers to close on my first house in Windsor Locks, but the storm prevented me from moving into that house until Governor Grasso lifted the state of emergency later in the week. In the meantime, I had already sublet my apartment and placed my furniture in storage, so I spent the duration, sleeping bag and suitcase in tow, with LuAnne Figoni in her apartment down the hall.
I’m sure you all have your own particular memories of that
week. Here’s a link that may stir up some more: CLICK HERE
February 2013:
More recently, it was ten years ago this week (February 8, 2013) that the region was hit with Winter Storm Nemo, which dumped over three feet of snow in parts of Connecticut and brought with it wide-spread wind gusts of over 60 mph. See more about that storm via these links:
I was
visiting my father in New Britain when the storm arrived. By the next afternoon, the snowdrifts in his
driveway had almost completely buried my car --- but mercifully left the driver’s
door accessible, so that I was able to eventually turn the car around to drive out.
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| That's my father posing with the shovel. 95 years old at the time, my nephew and I had to force him to stay inside while we did the digging out! |
Winters Present
Winter can still bring joy to those who are able to embrace the snow. Case in point was last week, when John and I spent a week skiing at Sunday River in Maine in the congenial company of good friends and family: Jerry and Laura Kimble, Diane Lototski and husband Brian Williams, and John’s brother Jay with wife Andrea. With an average age of around 70, some of the inevitable talk around each day’s breakfast table was about the aches and pains from the previous day’s skiing, but much more of our time was spent laughing and just enjoying the camaraderie.
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| Happy Senior Skiers! |
As to be expected with friends that go back more than 40 years, some of our conversations turned to reminiscences of old days and folks at MSD: the sea of desks and shared phones; punch cards and the first TSO terminals; rubber band balls; summer picnics and other celebrations; over/under 30 softball games; Charlie Straight’s one-liners*. It’s hard to convey to younger folks how we tolerated the smoke-filled conference rooms, the strict 8 to 4:30 schedule, and even the (ahem) ratings systems the “gentlemen” of the department had for new women hires (!).
Times have certainly changed......but friendships and memories remain.
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* A sampling of Charlie's wit:
“I’d like to help you out; which way did you come in?”
“The system is crashing around us, and you’re worried about double spacing?”
"Aw hell, take a street car!"
