Flashback from 30 years ago

At Holy Spirit Rectory, New Hyde Park, NY in 1983

The heavy snow we received here in Baker City this week reminds me of the heavier snowfall we used to get when I was in New York. The above photo shows me by the Holy Spirit rectory in New Hyde Park. I enjoyed the snow so much back then for two reasons. First I had never seen snow before coming to the USA. Secondly I did not have to drive on it as I did not drive at that time, using the bicycle for short trips. The sanitation department used sand to melt the snow and ice, and which also corroded a lot of cars in the process. 

A reliable jeep, my best driving instructor

However my biking years were soon to be over as I started to learn how to drive in the winter of 1982-1983, using our parish jeep to practice and to plough snow from our parking lots. That gave me a lot of practice since it was not an automatic car, shifting and reversing frequently. And besides I had to maneuver the plough, moving forward and backwards a hundred times while piling the heavy snow on the sides. I enjoyed that jeep so much that after the snow was gone, I painted it green, precisely on St Patrick’s Day, March 17 1983.