January 30, 2014 The Pope's Red Shoes and Snow Cream

It is the dead of winter.  There is ice and mud on the Cottonwood Trail.  The wetlands are iced with fallen trees and the dead branches and shoots of water plants.  The reptiles are hibernating, but a few birds twitter and tweep their swooping up and down flights across the water.  I am here alone and suddenly the gigantic Great Blue Heron squawks and lifts up just beside me into the sky that is so blue it looks like a Greek postcard.

There is still snow on the ground from the Arctic  blast that came Tuesday afternoon and stopped traffic on I-75, I-85 and I-285 around Atlanta. Children were stranded on buses and many slept overnight in their schools. People left their cars on the highways and walked to stores or churches to shelter. A baby was born on I-285. Eleanor picked up Mathew early. Martin walked home and Ryan's Marta train broke down, the doors refused to open, but soon another train brought them home.

Here we had 2.6 inches also.  I wore my new soft red suede shoes, a size too big to work because of my broken toe, looking just a little like the previous Pope's red slippers.

Here is an old recipe for Snow Cream.

1 (14 oz) can of sweetened condensed milk
1 (5.33 oz) can of evaporated milk
1 tsp vanilla
SNOW

Mix milks and vanilla. Gradually beat in snow until ice cream is of desired consistency.. Serves 5.

from Southern Sideboards of the Jr. League of Jackson, Mississippi, 1978