3158 East Church Street winter memories

The place I think of as home, East Church Street in Eden, New York, includes plenty of memories covered in snow, and winters that seemed to start at Thanksgiving and end with Easter. There was no such term as "wind chill factor" in those years (1958 to 1969), but everyone knew that "with the wind, it's a lot colder than that." We had plenty of 'snow days' from school and many a wintry night I would stay up late, hoping to here Eden schools were closed the next day, meaning no school, just a day of shoveling, plowing, and shivering.

The solarium at the lower right of the house (above) often provided a warmer spot on sunny winter days, even with plenty of snow on the ground, as the sun warmed the room, enough to keep plants growing year-round. Father Ed was proudest of his poinsettias and "crown of thorns" plants that came out at Christmas an Easter, colorful reminders that spring would spring back in a few months and that Jesus wore a crown of thorns to his death.