N is for Nor'easter

For the month of April I will be taking part in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge. I will be using two tools besides my trusty computer - my imagination and my dictionary -The American Heritage Dictionary, Second College Edition.. I will turn to the letter of the day, flip the pages and let my fickle finger of fate find the word. Then I'll write - might be a story, might be a rant, might be a poem. Who knows! Do let me know what you think. To go to the list of other participants go here - There's a heck of a lot of blogs and there are many more signed up below me. If you make a comment I will do my darnedest to check out your blog and comment. Spread the love around!

Nor'easter - n. A storm or gale from the northeast.

                                                   sorry - I couldn't find out who's photo this was.

It was a nor'easter that brought White Juan to us in February of 2004.  In the parts of Canada and U.S. that sit upon the Atlantic, the term nor'easter has always been under hot debate. Is it an affectation or a word that has survived from the 15th century? I don't care - it is always a helluva storm! White Juan closed the Maritimes down. There were up to 150 cm's of snow recorded in some parts of three provinces that make up the Maritimes. We'd had Hurricane Juan in the fall proceeding it - and now, instead of torn-up docks and boats tossed to smithereens, we had a blanket of thick snow that erased the roads and left many of us without power. My fella got his acetylene torch going to boil coffee and we were fine. We were lucky I suppose, in that we got completely storm-stayed by the snow and inability of the plows to do such a massive job in any short time - yet we had our power back on after a short time. Many went days and days. What did it mean to me? It was a natural writing retreat. I had nothing to do but write and so I tackled the book I was writing and got the bones of it down. The kids were with their mother - work (the kind I get paid for) was out of the question and so I wrote. There was something about the quiet of that time that was heavenly and also the lack of choice. I know that Nor'easter often bring destruction to the east coast and I don't sniff at that - but for me White Juan was an ill wind that blew lots of good.