I am back home, counting birds, catching up with the papers and the mail and in time to watch Friday’s snowstorm. It is now Sunday – sunshine is the welcome sight and the dirty snow piles and the icicles on the eaves are melting. A cousin in New York State just called and said 38 inches of snow has almost been more than shovelers can handle.

Once again a daughter surprised me and did last week’s column. It was nice to be able to take a week off – I was in the hospital for a brief visit, without paper and with an inadequate pen. So, thank you Wendy.

You haven’t lived fully unless you have taken an ambulance ride to a hospital in blizzard conditions, in the dark, with a crew that had to battle an unshoveled path, winds blowing snow that reduced vision and roads as yet unplowed. They were a great and very competent crew and I admired their calm and reassuring manner. Thanks to the crew of the Southbury ambulance unit.

For two days in the hospital, nurses and other workers swapped stories of trips to work and trips to get home. Most have four-wheel drive vehicles, but many of them were brought to work by their husbands or brothers, with no thought of not getting there, although many of them said it took a lot longer.

Struggling to consume a bland diet of clear broth, fruit juices, and minus a decent cup of coffee is the norm for a couple of days. Hospitals do not know how to make good coffee, so I skip that completely, but the tea is hot and is a substitute that is tolerable. After a couple of days, the menu advanced to a decent cream type soup, and the small cup of vanilla ice cream was like a special gourmet treat!

The day I came home, Wendy got me at suppertime and then went to get a list of groceries to match the strict diet I must live with for awhile. I miss the hearty vegetable and fruit salads I like best, but I make do with cooked kinds, and homemade coffee and tea are most welcome.

With the storm going full steam ahead I told family members to stay home and just phone occasionally. Most of them have a cell phone, so I asked by daughter Susan to call around if I wanted to call out. I have a calling card someplace, but not with me, so I only was able to call her since it wasn’t an out-of-town call.

Laurie has checked in a couple of times, each one reporting more snow in Vermont and a rough winter. Except for all the ski center operators and their customers, people up there are counting the days till all the white stuff ends.

My friend and neighbor Gini left early Saturday morning for Sanibel Island and my friend Jay in Minnesota is leaving this week for the same place. They will meet on St Patrick’s Day in a local restaurant that in known for its lively celebration of the “green.”

A week before last, the column ended with words by Marlene Dietrich.

What other woman said, “We come and go but the land is always here. And the people who love it and understand it are the people who own it for awhile”?