But it did snow this spring. My brown yard turned white shortly after the Vernal Equinox on March 19th.
So, here we are in April. Will poet T. S. Eliot’s words, “April is the cruelest month,” hold true? Might we experience tornados, wind storms, torrential rains, or maybe more snow?
For as we Minnesotans know, snow has often fallen here in April. And I have one special black and white photograph from 1951 to prove it.
My mother and I are posing in our front yard on April 16, which was her birthday. A teenager then, I’m wearing my storm coat, babushka and heavy Kickerino boots, and mom is in an old fur coat and hat. The snow is waist-high!
My brother lived in sunny warm California then. The photo was immediately sent off to him, with a note wondering if he’d care to come home for a visit!
I’d discovered the photo in an old cardboard box in the attic. Further digging through the box unearthed my tattered 1951 diary. “It started snowing again,” is noted on April 11th, which explains the huge amount of snow in the birthday photo, piled on top of that which came earlier.
A few other choice April diary entries are: “Got report cards on the 5th”. “Saw our senior class play, ‘Best Foot Forward’ on the 27th. It seems I attended Luther League only once all month (I always hated Luther League) and missed church junior choir practice a couple of times. On the 10th, “Cute algebra practice teacher came to school.” Hmmm!
“Our GAA (Girls Athletic Association) top team “The Things”—named after a popular sci-fi movie—lost the championship game to “The Basketeers” on the 13th. On the 17th my best friend Ardis went to the dentist, and I started sewing a yellow skirt in Home Economics class.
Uff Da!
The diary is actually a 1951 wall calendar. My one sentence entries are written on the lines of a Memoranda on one side of the page. A scene of elves camping out in the woods is spread across the top of the page for April. (An appropriate scene is depicted for each month.) I always loved this artwork, which was very popular on calendars and children’s books then.
I have to mention here that I recall April 1, 2005, the day of my beloved Aunt Cora’s funeral, which took place in Fairmont. The temperature was in the mid-80s. The long drive down there was uncomfortably hot in my nephew’s un-air-conditioned car. So, go figure!
I only hope there will not be a snowstorm this April 20th as I have an important annual social event that night! But . . . it did snow for that same event last year!
Carol Hall lives in Woodbury. She’s a longtime freelance writer, a University of Minnesota graduate and a former Northwest Airlines stewardess.