Winter Fun

Some things change, some don’t.

Heavy snowfalls on Picardy Place where I grew up meant no school, sometimes for several days, because Memphis Tennessee was in the mid-south–it had no snow removal equipment. Everyone turned on radio or TV on snowy morning hoping to hear, “City schools are closed.”

Our yard, seen here, was good for rolling up big balls to stack for snowmen, or a bunch of them to make a snow-fort, and then pile up an bunch of smaller snow-balls to throw at attackers.

But it was only two or three feet above street-level and therefore no good for sledding.

At the other end of Picardy, however, was Henry Nall’s house. It had the steepest driveway and when the snow packed down (or especially when someone sprayed a garden hose on it during the night), it became rocket fast. At the bottom of the slope, it went horizontal across the sidewalk then took the final drop to the street. At a good clip, could get airborn for a moment.

In the early years, however, the street covering was gravel and if the landing zone’s snow was too thin or not packed hard enough, sled runners could plunge through and contact the gravel. One of my sisters went down the hill once on ice skates and ended up with gravel in her hip that had to be dug out one stone at a time.

With a good snow fall, it was common to build a couple of snow (or ice!) forts within throwing distance of each other. A stockpile of snowballs–ice balls were prohibited but a couple were commonly prepared and held in reserve for the really rough kids that might choose to invade–would be accumulated and then quickly exhausted as soon as the first one was thrown.

Over on Lombardy (accessed by a gap in the fence behind Henry Nall’s garage), passing cars were targets. The slick street and deep gutters along the sides of the street made it hard for drivers to stop quickly so by the time they could give chase on foot, we were long gone.

If it stayed really cold for several days, Chicasaw Lake would freeze thick enough for skating.

Yeah, winters were pretty good.