It’s Snowing!
The other morning I went into my teen daughter’s room at 6am, a human alarm clock waking her up for school. Only this day was different, special.
“It’s snowing,” I said.
What a magical thing for a parent to say to their kid! A snow day meant sledding and snow angels, snowball fights and snow men. And first snow of the season was special. White and fluffy, not yet gray from car exhaust.
She slowly opened her eyes and looked at me. She’s no dummy. We live in Silicon Valley, and I’m pretty sure the last time it snowed here was the Ice Age.
“No, it’s not,” she said.
“It is on the Hi Mom Cam.”
Her face lit up. The Hi Mom Cam is a webcam at Cornell University, connected to the internet. Anyone can look through it, even control it, to view parts of the campus. She’s applying to several colleges back east, but the cam at Cornell is one we know about. It’s become our way to gauge the weather, wherever she might attend. (My California daughter has no idea what Nor-East winters are like!)
She went to the kitchen and my computer, and looked at the webcam live streaming video. Pure white snow covered the Ithaca landscape. It was picture postcard beautiful.
I started making lunches. “Can you go grab the paper?” I asked. I meant the newspaper out on the driveway. I’m old school – I still find value in reading news stories and features chosen by editors local to me. And I don’t like eating oatmeal over a keyboard.
My daughter looked outside. While we didn’t have snow, there was definitely frost, and the temperature was pretty dang low.
She shook her head. “It’s too cold!”
California is too cold? Ha.
Forget the Hi Mom Cam – seems I need a Deep Freeze Cam. Something to lower the temperature in our house to sub-arctic levels, and let my daughter know what east coast weather’s really like.
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Comment by Ginger Magnolia
| December 10th, 2009
Snow does not equal fun when it’s around for five months! It IS exciting, though, when you haven’t seen it or experienced it much before. It’s sweet that you still wake her up in the mornings. :)
Ginger Magnolia´s last blog ..Mish Mash
Comment by Karen
| December 10th, 2009
Also check out oswego.edu the webcam tab at the top is awesome. Oswego is further north from Cornell on Lake Ontario, just north of Syracuse. My alma mater…SUNY Oswego!!!
Comment by Nicki
| December 10th, 2009
Oh, she’s not going to Ithaca. I grew up in the Adirondacks, hence the move to Charlotte. While we didn’t have nearly the snowfall on Lake Champlain that they did in Oswego, it could be brutally cold. (Incidentally, I did a college visit to SUNY Oswego and decided against it when they mentioned something about tunnels to get to various buildings because of the inclement weather…)
Enjoy those college visits!
Nicki´s last blog ..*sniffle* I’m broken?
Comment by kmn
| December 10th, 2009
We just had 12 inches of the stuff dumped on us Tuesday night and this morning I woke up to -2 degrees. I love the snow until New Years and then it can just go away!
Comment by Travis
| December 10th, 2009
w00t! 2 feet! and now it’s -3…. Yay!
(Can’t even cry, my tears would freeze)
It’s awesome…
Travis´s last blog ..In His Mind, He’s Driving, He’s Making The Grade
Comment by Heather
| December 10th, 2009
LOL she’d be a frozen solid block of human out here in Indiana!! LOL It was 10 degrees when I left the house and with the windchill it feels like -5!!!
Heather´s last blog ..wanna win??
Comment by debra
| December 10th, 2009
Ithaca was a shock to my system the 4 years I lived there in college and I grew up only an hour from there. It snows horizontally, blows right up from the lake. BRRRRR…I’m shivering just thinking about it. That’s why I’ve been in Atlanta since graduation!
However, it’s beautiful in the fall, spring and summer, and a little frost bite is a small price to pay for a Cornell education!
Comment by Andrea
| December 10th, 2009
I’d be more than happy to set up a “This is what it looks like in SnowHell” cam for her. Blizzard is expected to hit Philly on Sunday. Mm, can’t wait. NorEasters are So. Much. Fun.
She better stock up on sweaters, and wool socks, and mittens, and hats, and sweaters, and snow boots, and sweaters…
Andrea´s last blog ..What did you do Tuesday Night?
Comment by Vinomom
| December 10th, 2009
East Coast will certainly be a shock to her system, if thats where she chooses to go. I am from the west coast, but Seattle’s not exactly Silicon Valley. It did take me a bit to get used to the colder weather, but the hot humid summers more than make up for it (IMO), as well as having four actual seasons!
Maybe she wants to consider something east coast but not QUITE so East?
Vinomom´s last blog ..The Dog is Depressed
Comment by Elizabeth
| December 10th, 2009
It is bitter cold in that part of New York State during the winter, but young people adapt pretty fast. I went to school up at Hamilton College, and I found that there was a beauty about contrasting seasons that you don’t neccesarily get in more temperate zones.
And what’s this about a blizzard in Philly? I live outside the city near Lancaster, and if the metereologists are right we’ll really get some snow. Better go get the salt and buy milk for the next two weeks. As my son would say, cue the “Drama TV”.
Elizabeth´s last blog ..Tossing the recipe
Comment by Danielle
| December 10th, 2009
Here in colorado, we have had -14 to 20 degrees since Sunday. Cali frost sounds good to me!
Comment by BigLittleWolf
| December 10th, 2009
This is lovely, lovely, lovely. And as one who was raised in those bitter climes and all that snow, I am astonished at how the overnight drop to 32 degrees where I am now seems to chill me to the bone!
With one college kiddo already in the northern regions, he’s beginning to understand why I headed off for something a tad warmer long ago. And it’s only December! But yes – sleds and skates, scarves and mittens. Lovely memories. Lovely experiences – especially for kids.
BigLittleWolf´s last blog ..Statements of Self, Drunken Drafts, and Other Threads
Comment by Mindy/Single Mom Says...
| December 10th, 2009
Danielle said it. We finally got in the double-digits for the HIGH yesterday. It’s been pretty nippy around here and the “cold” in Cali would be very welcome about now!
Mindy/Single Mom Says…´s last blog ..Single Mom Holiday Hustle & Bustle
Comment by QTMama
| December 10th, 2009
Hehehe, I do have to wonder, what she is going to think of the snow when she has to walk to class in it, through it and surrounded by it! :)
QTMama´s last blog ..What’s Your Dating Style?
Comment by Mark
| December 10th, 2009
What a nice thing to share!
Mark´s last blog ..Who Are You Blowing Off?
Comment by Florinda
| December 10th, 2009
Gorgeous view – it takes me back! My first husband went to grad school at Cornell, and we lived off-campus for 4.5 years. Once he finished his Ph.D., we moved down south to Memphis, and after our divorce, I ended up in Southern California, so I guess that tells you what I thought of the winters up in the Finger Lakes!
Ithaca has beautiful late spring, summer, and fall weather, but winter lasts WAY too long – and snow’s only fun when you don’t HAVE to go out in it. (And days on end without the sun is why people get Seasonal Affective Disorder.)
But if your daughter does end up in the Northeast for college, she’ll adapt – it’s easier for the young, and she’ll enjoy the novelty for awhile.
Florinda´s last blog ..Progressive Dinner Party: Dessert course – Chocolate Trifle
Comment by Honey
| December 10th, 2009
Haha, I grew up in Florida and then moved to Arizona (though it does snow in Flagstaff) so I am pretty much like, “OMG it’s below 50, I need 5 sweaters and a wool coat!”
Honey´s last blog ..Hookers, Scandal, Money, Tiger Woods
Comment by Sandra
| December 10th, 2009
Admit it, us Californians are total pussies. We can’t handle the weather back east. We always complain about cold weather.
It is snowing here in the SF Bay on Mount Hamilton. Also people in SF reported snow yesterday.
I really hope your daughter gets into the school of her choice. Good luck to her.
Sandra´s last blog ..Thursday Thurst ;)
Comment by Travis
| December 10th, 2009
@Sandra, lol, it rained and it was the end-of-the-world.. :)
I was out in my shorts, flip-flops and a T may years ago. And everyone around me was wearing jackets talking about how cold it was. It was 68. Pansies. Try surfing Lake Michigan in September. :D
Disclaimer: been there, lived there, surfed there. miss ya Monterey, Santa Cruz… Huntington.. PCH (*sniffle*) all my love.
I loved Ithaca, it’s so beautiful up/over there.
Travis´s last blog ..In His Mind, He’s Driving, He’s Making The Grade
Comment by T
| December 10th, 2009
WOW. Snow days… how fun! I’ve always lived in the south so I really have no idea what those are like either.
Brrr…. 22 degrees was our temp this morning and that’s PLENTY cold for me!
T´s last blog ..Cookies, Cocoa and New Friends?
Comment by Big City Dad
| December 10th, 2009
That cam is a great idea! Cornell is obviously a great school. It’s a whole other kind of cold up there though. She’d better get prepared. I grew up in the South and went to college at Virginia Tech in SW Virginia. Mountains but shouldn’t be that bad, right? WRONG!!! The first year was the coldest I’d ever imagined. We go over 6 feet of snow that winter. Unreal. Obviously my blood has thickened since.
Big City Dad´s last blog ..On the Band Wagon
Comment by Keith Wilcox
| December 10th, 2009
We had snow in Los Angeles when I was 5 years old. It was only an inch, but I remember thinking it was about the most awesome thing in the world. When I was 6 we moved to New Hampshire during January. We couldn’t move into our house for a week because the moving trucks got stuck in a Blizzard someplace in upstate New York. I learned quickly what winter was really all about. When I was 12 we moved back to LA, and by then I was a seasoned veteran. I guess cold and snow really is a matter of perspective. My wifes family is from Puebla Mexico and they dress like they’re going on an arctic expedition whenever the weather gets below 50. LOL!
BTW, My cousin went to Cornell; her family lives in Ithaca. We used to visit at Christmas time. I remember the campus being really beautiful. My Uncle was a Cornell police officer, and my other Cousin works for Ithaca 911. Anyway, That’s what I know about that — sorry for the ramble. You just struck a chord :-)
Keith Wilcox´s last blog ..Oreo Cookie Filling: Death by Cookie
Comment by Allan Rousselle
| December 10th, 2009
I’ve been lurking on your site for a bit, but when I saw the picture of my alma mater, I did a double-take. And to hear that your daughter is looking at Cornell… well!
I think I’m going to have to write an entry for my blog about “Why Cornell… (or, any Ivy, for that matter)?” The fact is, wherever your daughter goes, she’s apt to do well because of all that *you* have given her. Even so, by jumping into a school where the student body has a healthy sense of competition and support, she stands to make friends-for-life who will likely encourage her to push beyond her comfort level and better achieve her potential.
It doesn’t hurt that each fresh snowfall on the Cornell campus lends a silent beauty (a blanket of snow is so *quiet* on the gorges and hills) that is unrivaled by any comparable snowfall in Cambridge, New York City, or Philadelphia — Ivy League towns where I’ve also lived. And when the leaves change color? When the summer thunderstorms rage? Awesome.
(Feel free to e-mail me off-line if you’re interested in talking more about college in the Northeast. I’ve got stories!)
As for waking your daughter up at 6am… 6am?!?! Isn’t that… child abuse? I thought California was laid back. Sheesh.
Allan Rousselle´s last blog ..Santas I Have Been
Comment by Karen
| December 10th, 2009
I live about 2 hours away (north and east, brrrr), here’s a video taken by my brother of some snow awesomeness! This even sounds cold!
Cornell is a great school, we have Hamilton College here in our town of Clinton, also a good school and very chilly. Meantime my son is looking for a college in CA!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alWlilgb3fQ
Comment by SDMktg
| December 10th, 2009
San Diego is unreal most of the year. 70s and sunny. Except in the summer when it gets over 100 inland and winter when the temps drop into the low 60s or perhaps 50s on some days and everyone complains all day about how freezing it is and how they had to turn up the heat to sit around the house in shorts and a t-shirt. People here can’t drive in the rain. If it snowed they’d have to close all of the roads.
All of California is not this way. I once saw a girl in a bikini on the beach of Lake Tahoe. It was about 45 out.
Comment by Rdawg
| December 11th, 2009
I like the human alarm clock note, that is me with my 2 boys every day, and nothing gets them jumping out of bed faster to look out the window than me telling them it snowed overnight! They are always looking for a snow day. Actually, we are going skiing this weekend, there is a ski “resort” already open here in Ohio! If it’s going to be cold there might as well be snow is my thinking.
Comment by Laura
| December 13th, 2009
That is special!! I remember feeling this way about a varsity I wanted to go to – I would keep looking at pictures etc!
LOL I love oatmeal over a keyboard ;-p
Comment by Daddy Geek Boy
| December 14th, 2009
The saddest thing about my kids being raised on the West Coast is that they will never know the joys of a snow day.
I do miss winters in Ithaca. I know that’s crazy for people to hear, but I miss ‘em.