December 15

The benefit of nor’easters is that they tend to depart as rapidly as they arrive; yesterday’s tempest came in the late afternoon, with darkening gray skies that typify the oncoming of snow bands. By evening and then throughout the night, the snow fell hard, hitting the house and drifting all about. The wind fairly roared for several hours, as the low of the storm came and went, moving up the coast toward down east Maine.

We stayed snug in bed, listening to the howling wind and driving snow, knowing that by daybreak the landscape would be transformed and the work of digging out would begin. Apart from the storm sounds, there was only the periodic roar of the town plow making its slow path up Grove, its blinking yellow lights diffused in the falling snow and reflecting momentarily on the bedroom wall as it passed slowly by.

By morning, the wind had settled, and the clouds began to break, revealing a landscape blanketed in white 12 inches deep.