Snow Angels 101

A couple weekends ago we received about six inches of snow here at the shore in central New Jersey. That's a respectable showing, not too crazy but not so little that it didn't feel like a real snowstorm. As the flakes fell, I thought about the many snowy places where I have been or lived, and the fun and creative things people do with snow...

Wherever enough snow piled up and stayed awhile, my brothers and I loved to tunnel and make igloos. Look at this snapshot, circa 1980, taken in Pittsburg, NH, the northernmost town in the state:

I know the quality of the photo is terrible, but what great memories from visiting our relatives over Christmas break! Feet of snow on the ground as a normal thing was wondrous, and we could not get enough of sledding, snowmobiling, making snow forts and having snowball fights with cousins and friends. It was always fascinating to me that people up there actually owned snowshoes. Though it was a way of life for the locals, to me it all seemed a little exotic.

A bottomless supply of long underwear, head and hand protection, ski coveralls and boots appeared like magic, conjured by my Aunt Mary and Aunt Dallas. The old radiators in Grampa's house doubled as drying stations for soggy things, and I remember the distinct smell of wet woolens, the sound of small chunks of ice falling to the floor as the heat released them. If you didn't get caked in snow, you weren't doing it right!

Commercially made gear may keep the hands and head warmer through technology, but there's just nothing like hand-knitted mittens and pom-pom hat to keep your heart toasty. I still have many of the things my Mom, grandmothers and aunts made for me; my favorite is a white stocking hat, a good 30 inches long, that I wore every winter for years:

Anyone interested in knitting something like this, click here to get instructions, thanks to Sarah E. White at knitting.about.com!)

Now, the reason for today's blog post title: I wondered if making snow angels, an innocent, no-tech activity, was too old school for kids today, but no! People still get on their backs and flutter to make angel impressions. In my research, I found not only a how-to site with instructions, but a different take on the phrase as well, as seen in Jay Lindsay's sci-tech-today.com article about a "'snow angel' campaign" in the Boston area, where angelic concepts like guardianship, protection and assistance were alive and well among people helping others dig out from the blizzard. Our moderate snowfall was nothing compared to the massive amounts dumped on parts of New England by the same storm.

One last bit about snow angels...do you have any idea what the world record is for number of people making snow angels simultaneously? I was astounded by the figure: 8,962. See an aerial view of this feat with the article I found on usatoday.com. Amazing!