Oh the weather outsides delightful!

At last we have some decent snow. It is not that little sissy snow that simply messes up the roads and causes all of the unemployed landscapers to furiously circle around in their pick-up trucks with the plows attached, chasing one lonely snowflake. It is good, deep, fluffy snow. The kind of snow that generates snow forts and igloos and shoveled driveways with straight crisp sides proudly showing that one knows what one is doing while one is shoveling. There are always reports of old people collapsing while shoveling snow. Considering all of the other ways that there are to go, dropping in the driveway while shoveling doesn't seem like a bad way to go. Come Springtime, someone will find you and defrost you and maybe raise a glass to your memory.
I took a walk in the snow. I enjoy walking in the snow very much, almost as much as I used to enjoy driving in a really heavy snow with the large flakes streaming towards the windshield. I used to feel like Captain Kirk on the bridge of the Enterprise as the stars streamed towards him.
I went for the walk because I had made the one mistake that no New Englander should ever make. I thought that I was prepared for any type of blizzard. The larder is overflowing and I have plenty of milk and bread. This morning I discovered that I was down to the last roll of toilet paper! There are a lot of things that one can do without. There are a lot of things that can be improvised from other things. T.P. is not in either category.
When I returned, I made a nice roast beef with mashed potatoes and green beans. The gravy was drippings with beef stock and a nice ruby port and garlic and onion and carrot. The beef was tender, the potatoes had a nice gravy filled well in them, and the snow was falling outside while I pleasantly munched away. After that I took a nice nap.
Ah this New England! Is there any better place to live in the world? I don't think so. I don't ever want to live in a place where cocoa and wool socks are not necessary to life.