Thursday was the best of times, the worst of times - schools were closed & countless people called out from work due to a snow fall that topped out at close to 8" (a crippling amount if you live south of D.C.; a dusting if you're in Minneapolis/St. Paul), but our neighborhood was transformed into mystical magical beauty.
Driving over to join an older friend for dinner at her senior residence, found myself wishing for an excuse to take her out, it was all so beyond-description spectacular. And the roads were easy to drive, as it was all snow - easy on traction - no ice!
Imagine my delight discovering that - unknown to my friend's family or moi - the dining room was closing at 6:00 p.m. (to let staff get home safe & sound). Oh darn it - now I had to take her out. And not next door to Panera (which was closed, anyway).
You can't give a Lockhart an opportunity like that & not expect us to make the most of it! Off we went, on what felt like a magic carpet ride, over white ribbon roads with almost no traffic.
She was as entranced as I hoped she'd be. The drive over to our little hometown seemed right out of a fairy tale, the trees tipped & covered in glistening snow flakes. It felt like we swooped over Terwood Road, down the roller coaster hills, snow-swept Raytharn Farm stretching out on both sides.
Then left on Washington Lane to back track to Terwood Road & Fetters Mill. The drop down to the mill, sharp right & across the bridge to Bryn Athyn literally took our breath away. As my friend would say, I wish my eyes were a camera, to have captured it all.
Heading across the super-narrow bridge, over the semi-frozen Pennypack, past the post office, is always like opening a memory book for my friend.
If you walk right, along where the tracks were, take a left, then trek up the long hill, just right of Phil & Joy's is where she grew up.
For her, memories are everywhere, from Jane's house just up the road a piece, to Macy's on Alnwick, past Kent's family house. Layer upon layer of love & happiness, family & friends, decades of experiences, fun heartbreak love.
When she said, over & over, "I've never seen Bryn Athyn look like this," I could honestly agree completely. Neither had I. Cairncrest, the cathedral, Glencairn, Cairnwood - enchanted landscapes.
Forever grateful that we couldn't do dinner as planned, praise be the roads were in great shape & that it's part of the very warp & woof of my nature to spin memories whenever possible!
Will always remember the look on her face, the lilt in her voice, the lightness of her step as, returning home after dinner, John helping her out of the car, the two of them heading up to her apartment (what gentleman would allow a lady to return by herself?!).
How many people get to enjoy doing something that so magnificently blends nature & nuture, work experience & an instinct for fun, a flair for creating moments that are as unforgettable for me as they are for others. My life is blessed beyond measure.
Thanks, Mother Nature, for the staging & set design! Thanks to The Fates for the call to close food services early! Thanks thanks & more thanks to EVERYTHING that filled our Thursday night winter ramble - and our lives - with wonder amazement joy!
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