Gather ’round, children. Come on a little closer to my knee. Get up near the fire. You won’t believe this story.

It happened a long, long time ago…40 years now! Oh my word, it was a horrible winter, the winter of 1977. The temperature went down, down, down. One morning people came into work and said the thermometer had hit zero. Of course there was always the person whose story was a little wilder: “Six below zero at my house!” he said.

We were told to leave faucets dripping so the pipes wouldn’t freeze … but someone’s drips froze between the faucet and the sink, like stalactites. At least, that’s what he told us!

First it snowed. Then snowed again. And snowed more. The coves froze, then the creeks. Then the rivers. Then the bays. It was ice and snow and frozen miserable people and frozen pipes everywhere you turned.

Schools were closed a long time and the kids loved it because semester exams were cancelled! They got to have s...