In summer, our road up Jewell Hill fits the name. It's a gem of a path running along a meadow – and to my eye, it's much more attractive than any strip of blacktop. But last winter, for a time I literally couldn't get home. The nasty brew of snow, ice, slush, and mud was too much for my trusty all-wheel drive car. At times even the plow couldn't make it up to our driveway.