Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Change is in the air...

... and all over the ground, and piled a foot high on my car...

In case you haven't guessed from the change in background it snowed today. Either that or I did laundry, I'm not sure if that image is snow or powdered soap. Well, in any case, that's what it looks like outside. We got six, maybe up to eight inches. It's pretty nutty, especially because, despite the fact that yesterday morning was a frigid 19° it was bright and sunny, whereas today, with it snowing like a Christmas scene in a sappy movie, it was in the thirties even at 6:40am when I took Hastur for a walk.

She loved it of course. Bounded around like she was made for it. And to think that I was worried because she is such a short haired dog, she even has a completely bald belly. She couldn't care less about the cold, she just wants to run in the snow. I gotta find her a sled team to join because she needs to find a way to work off all the energy she gets from being in the snow. She'd have a blast dragging someone around, it's what she does to me every day anyway.

It snowed for pretty much the entire day. Big fluffy sticky powder, the good stuff, not the lame mush that fell in October. By the time of our long afternoon walk it had died down to the snow equivalent of a drizzle. Our afternoon walks take us to the school. Since it was practically deserted due to the holiday I decided to let Hastur off leash on the soccer field. Man did she take advantage of that. She raced around in big circles, falling into snow banks, tripping and rolling around, chasing snow balls I made for her.

Foolishly I decided not to bring my camera on our afternoon walk thinking that pictures of a snow covered school would be boring. I will not make that mistake twice. The campus will definitely be abandoned tomorrow so we'll do it again and this time I will capture it.

Being in the snow really brought me back to my childhood in Utah. I didn't really remember what it was like to be in a snow storm like this, but I can recall it now. I remember that I never really felt cold in the snow, even with my gloves and hat off. I remember how annoying it was when you stepped in a pile of snow that went about your boots and big chunks of snow got between your boot and your pants and you either had to let it melt into your socks or try to dig it all out. I remembered the serenity a freshly laid sheet of snow can bring. I didn't remember, until our evening walk, that fresh snow also illuminates everything. It's not an illusion caused by it's whiteness, it actually makes the night noticeably brighter.

Well, this snow isn't going to be long lived, it's going to get up into the 40s again this week, and probably rain as well. I'm pretty disappointed, especially because the longer it takes for a solid, long lasting snow pack to form the longer it will be before the school pond freezes and I can do some skating.

Ah well, in the meantime, here are some pictures I took this morning.

Hastur dressed for the weather   

   
Our morning walk with a huge high tide

  
Main street


  
View outside my bedroom

  
A very serene graveyard (search for ghosts in the picture... if you dare)

2 comments:

  1. I spent Christmas in Sandpoint, Idaho one year, visiting a friend who had just moved there. On Christmas Eve, we walked to a party across town, and the snow was thick on the ground. The Christmas lights reflected and glowed on the snow and it wasn't cold at all. It was one of the most beautiful Christmas Eves I've ever spent.
    Enjoy!

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  2. Wow! Gorgeous! Makes me homesick for snow. Hastur looks so cute! Nice cemetery too!

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