Sound of Winter

Sound of Winter

Soft through the night the snow doth fall
To blanket walks and fieldstone wall,
It lightly touches trees and vines
And gloves the hands of sleeping pines,
A veil across the street lamps face
A pantomime in frosted lace.

(Poet’s notes: January 11, 1991, 5″ snowfall in New York City)

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Virginia with her grandchildren, Erica and Mikey. Photo by her son Michael.

Virginia Gambardella lives in New York, only three miles from where she grew up. Her dad was a naval engineer and adventurer, and her mom, who sometimes called her “lamb’s lettuce” was a dressmaker for Bergdorf Goodman (she made all of Virginia’s clothes). Virginia has one son and three grandchildren and enjoys: people, holidays, antiques, nature, gardening, fishing, decorating, fashion, sharing knowledge, cooking and baking. She describes herself as “a memory keeper to the extreme”—she even kept her son’s baby teeth. She’s a cancer survivor, a pancreatitis survivor, a widow, and the re-inventor of her life, “as necessary.” She likes to exercise and spends every vacation at the beach with family.