It's Snow Joke! (And a Tornado, Too!)

This is a serious snow storm! I was excited to see gentle snow falling today, and I relished the feeling of stepping out in the wonderfully white world.
It was all good and well for the first ten to fifteen minutes of our walk to pick up Zusha. We arrived at the yeshiva. I thought to take photos of Gedalya enjoying the snow while we waited, but I didn't feel like taking my gloves off. And I was feeling anxious about Adel refusing to wear her mittens.

By the time Zusha came out, we looked like snowmen! My scarf was solid white- I'd challenge you to guess what color it was originally, but I don't have a photo. I guess you'll just have to imagine that there was no hint of yarn peeking through the snow!

I had planned to go to Shop Rite and Amazing Savings. I needed to get coffee cups, cat food and all that, but with the snow piling up, I wasn't sure it was a good idea. But after walking a couple of blocks in the awful cold, I thought it would do us all good to go in and warm up. So we did.

When we left the stores, I could not believe what I was seeing. Or more accurately, I wasn't actually seeing anything. Except white. So then I decided to take off my glasses because I'd rather see things blurry than see snow encrusted lenses.

Long story short (too late for that, huh?) we were stuck in a blizzard. I don't know how I made it home. I couldn't see more than three feet ahead of me. We were freezing. Ferocious winds were blowing needle-sharp flakes into our faces. At some points I wasn't able to get the carriage through. I had to turn it backwards and pull until we hit somewhat more trampled snow.

It seems to me we have a tendency to get stuck in storms.
Like one fine September day when we were playing in the park after picking up Zusha...

We were playing on the grass

and Adi asked to go on the swings. "Up!"

Since she loves swings so much, I use them as an incentive to walk. So I told her to stand up by herself and she did.

We were on the swings when the sky began to darken. It turned a stony color... kind of swampy looking. We watched together as a gigantic cloud zoomed into view and enveloped the sky. Well, that's not precisely it. I guess a more accurate way to describe it is- picture a pot of boiling water. Now picture that pot as the sky, all bubbling, rolling, moving.
At first I was in no rush to leave. If it would start raining, we wouldn't get home before it starts anyway. 
And then someone turned that pot over.
There was so much water in the air that there were waves in the air. So much water on the ground that there were waves on the ground. There was no distinguishing between sidewalk and street because they were both equally flooded- at least a foot deep.

By the time we arrived at the nearest grocery, about six short blocks away, we were soaked. Usually the word soaked is used figuratively, but now it was literal. As if we jumped in a pool. Not a dry fiber anywhere near us. We wrung ourselves out and did a little shopping. By the time we went out of the store, the sun was shining... birds were chirping... mini lakes disappearing rapidly into gutters.
It wasn't until we came home that we discovered we were stuck in the midst of a tornado!

Zusha was pretty scared and for the next couple of months storms made him nervous. I explained to him that we have apparatuses that can predict these sorts of things and help us keep safe in such storms. We will usually know if we need to evacuate, stock up on food for a few days, or just stay indoors for a couple of hours. Never mind the fact that this tornado wasn't predicted... LOL. But Zusha was somewhat appeased.

Let's see how long we'll be stuck indoors with this one. It's really something!