Halloween Snowstorms and Power Outages

In wonderful New England we have all come to learn that the weather is just plain unpredictable! I live in Agawam, MA...a little town right down the street from Springfield, MA and home to Six Flags New England. This year all of us in Hampden County have been through a whirlwind of weather!!! First, it was a freak TORNADO in June that is absolutely UNHEARD OF in my area! Then it was Hurricane Irene which is also UNHEARD of in my area! I was lucky enough to avoid any real damage although I was only a short mile from the destruction. This Halloween weekend mother nature played a serious trick on us all and dropped a good foot of snow of my little town and the surrounding counties....sound annoying? Well, yes. But also seriously damaging. See the leaves underneath the bowing limbs?

I'm talking downed trees every 10 feet, live wires all over the roads, and MASS POWER OUTAGES. We were one of the lucky houses that didn't lose power (although we did lose all phone connections, internet, and television) and we were housing family all weekend. Over half of my neighbors in the surrounding areas are still without electricity which means no heat, hot water, or refrigerated foods. It's been a blackout. Schools have been closed all week long (delaying my term paper...) and TRICK OR TREATING WAS CANCELLED due to the dangerous power lines littering every street.

I'm happy that there were very few lives lost but the damage will take months to repair, and many people will be without power for up to a MONTH in this freezing New England weather. Needless to say, blogging was one of the last things on my mind, but now that I'm back online my brain is pulsing with un-blogged food and baked goods! I've got at least one post I must share before I get on a plane to San Francisco tomorrow and leave this crazy weather behind! Enjoy, stay warm, and see you at the blogger fest!