Nicole St. Cyr of Newcastle is taking social distancing seriously. She thinks it should also apply to snowmen. March 24, after the overnight snowstorm, she got busy building a line of snowmen on her lawn being careful to make sure they were at least six feet apart.

“The snowmen can’t be together,” said St. Cyr, who lives with her family on Academy Hill Road. 

She even made one on the roof of her van to show how some snowmen are exercising extreme caution. St. Cyr had to work fast as she applied hats and sticks for arms, since the sun came out and temperatures rose well above freezing.

She worked amid the hum of gas generators. Homes on the road had lost power. She retrieved a bag of spray paint cans to apply facial features to the sagging faces.

The snowmen were a followup to her sculpted snow toilet which she adorned with rolls of toilet paper.  “It all disappeared,” she said.

Toilet paper has not been an issue for the St. Cyr family. “We had a pile of paper before this (COVID-19 pandemic) began. If people need it they should take it,” she said.” We try not to go into town if we don’t have to,” she added.

The family has been stretching basic homemade food to last a few days rather than making use of bagged meals supplied by the few restaurants that have remained open in town. She believes many of her neighbors are already feeling the financial pinch of being out of work.

A custodian at Bristol Consolidated School, St. Cyr continues to go to work to prepare classrooms for whenever students return. “I have four classrooms totally disinfected and sealed closed,” she said. 

St. Cyr also made a snow penguin sculpture this season. She said she served hot chocolate and gave away a $25 gift certificate.