There's no business like SNOW business! (pardon the pun)

Philadelphia has experienced a record-breaking winter with 70.3 inches of snow fall so far (with another storm brewing for next week already)! In all fairness, all that snow has come from just three pretty hefty snowstorms, one back in December and two within the past week! With 25" of snowfall last Saturday, the city was just making its way back to normalcy when a storm from the southwest collided with one from the midwest, dropping another 18 or so inches on the city. We are effectively up to our waists in snow and I love it!

For those of you who may not know, I am from New Hampshire. Winter means snow. Snow means plows and

shoveling. And life goes on. But for the city of Philadelphia, snow means utter paralysis and, quite honestly, it's funny if not completely ludicrous. Without snow removal tactics, there are still enormous piles of snow sitting in the middle of the main roads, as we all wait patiently for the sun to melt them away. Schools are closed for the 4th day this week and city offices are just opening up again since Tuesday! I won't say that I'm not grateful for a city that not only doesn't have plows but also nowhere to put the snow, as it means I was off of work for two days, but for a northerner, it all seems rather crazy.

We were blessed this week to have a group from Raleigh, NC to serve with us! With our groups canceling left and right, we were grateful for their presence, as they not only helped us serve meals (albeit to crowds of less than 200), they also helped us dig our way out of the snow storm! So they'll characterize their time in Philadelphia with snow, snow, and more snow, and some soup served in there too!

The beautiful blanket of fresh white snow is almost cathartic. It oddly offers a sense of peace and rebirth. There was a quiet that I've never heard in Kensington. We're just waiting for the snow to melt to be back to our familiar streets.