Eighteen inches and counting, so they tell us. As we write this, the snowflakes are still falling, creating a lovely winter wonderland of chaos outside our windows. Add in the snow plow’s efforts and we have a wall of white surrounding the shop that looks like a Game of Thrones scenario. (Luckily Cat has an obsidian blade handy in case any Whitewalkers make an appearance.)
Why are we crazy enough to be open in this mess? No, we do not believe ‘the-business-must-open-no-matter-what’ nor are we out driving in the mess or forcing our staff to do so — (we promise!) We just camp out here — and those staff who live close enough to walk in or who want to camp out with us, fill out the staffing.
It was an M.O. that developed during the first ice storm after we opened. That one hit while we were here and, since both Deb and Cat live a fair piece from the shop, we couldn’t make it home. Fortunately, we have couches, pillows, blankets, coffee AND wine, as well as a frig & microwave — so we just bunked in and actually had a pretty fun time of it. And to our shock, customers actually showed up the next day!! So the pattern was set. Since then, when bad weather is predicted, we just plan on staying at the shop.
Deb being Deb, she packs in enough food to feed an army. So far this time, we’ve enjoyed a crockpot of chili, gummy bear pancakes — (don’t ask why, just know they were surprisingly good) — and salmon & eggs with blue cheese. Plus dark chocolate haystacks compliments of Michelle who has her own approach to stashing up for Snowpocalyse. (In other words, Cat eats way better when snowed in at the shop than she does at home!)
A surprising number of you people make it in to see us! And when we don’t have customers, we play in the snow (check out our attempt at making snow face-masks on our Facebook page or Michelle’s snow witch out front), work on behind-the-scenes stuff like inventory & cleaning up the warehouse (collective ‘ugh’), or just chill — crank up the tunes, pour ourselves a glass of wine, and drag out the Trivia for Dummies — which actually turned out to be aptly named for our skill levels. 🙂
So on this very snowy day, a collective ‘snow hats off’ from Deb & Cat to:
Michelle McBrien, who wields a mean snow-shovel and continuously reminds us of the joy of play in our lives. Her playful spirit calls to the child in all of us and THAT is a fabulous gift. (And did we mention she was the genius who brought the dark-chocolate haystacks??)
Amy Dove, who trekked the snow-covered blocks from her snug house to ours two days in a row, and helped Michelle dig a path across our parking lot so customers who had to park across the street because our lot hadn’t yet been plowed could actually reach us.
Kris Tenny-Brittian, who also lives nearby and not only made the trek herself to get here to work, but offered us use of her shower and homemade smoothies to boot!
Philana Crite, who did have to make a bit of a drive to get here, but chose to do it — not just to work, but even more importantly to be here Sunday morning to lead our Sacred Sunday service (which it turns out was written specifically for Cat. Funny how that works, isn’t it??)
Susan Walter, the amazingly gifted Angel Portrait artist who came in from Kansas City a day early to make sure she was here for the peeps who’d signed up for her sessions. (And we’re glad to report she did indeed make it safely back home — just a day later than planned.)
The many kind-hearted folk who took the time to check in on us to see if we needed anything, helping clean off cars (Thank you, Chris!), and making multiple trips to the grocery store to supplement Deb’s already voluminous store of food here, because she probably lived and died at Donner Pass in some prior lifetime. (Thank, you Karsten!)
And to all of you who make Heart, Body, & Soul a place we WANT to be even in a snowstorm — a heartfelt, if cold and snowy, thank-you.