Snow Days

 

Snow has fallen for two days, at times lightly, at times heavily, with fat flakes that splat against the window. I don't know the official accumulation, but in our garden there is at least 12 inches. Children (including our grands) are ecstatic: snowmen and snow-forts appear on many front lawns. Hills, even slight ones, bear evidence of gleeful sliding and trudging back up to do it all again. On my walk today everyone I met had a big smile and commented on the gorgeous snow. I know there are those who detest snowy days, but I believe they are huddled in their homes and not out enjoying it. It is treacherous to be driving - with so few snow days each winter, our area is not equipped with sufficient plows and removal equipment. People stay off the streets as much as possible. 

I find the snow incredibly beautiful. I love the way it transforms the landscape into something magical, blurring hard lines and reducing colour to contrasts of black, grey, and white. There's great conviviality as everyone clears off sidewalks and driveways, and takes time to lean on a shovel and converse with the neighbours. It's a jolly time. 

I'll leave you to enjoy these snowy scenes from walks taken in the past two days, and a few from my garden, accompanied by some favourite snowy day quotations.

A snow day, literally and figuratively,

falls from the sky

unbidden,

and seems like a thing of wonder.

Susan Orlean

Winter came down to our home one night

Quietly pirouetting in

on silver-toed slippers of snow

And we, we were children once again.

Bill Morgan, Jr.

Out of the bosom of the air,

out of the cloud-folds of her garment shaken,

Over the woodlands brown and bare

Over the harvest-fields forsaken

Silent, and soft, and slow

Descends the snow.

Longfellow

But now she loved winter. Winter was beautiful "up back" - almost intolerably beautiful. Days of clear brilliance. Evenings that were like cups of glamour - the purest vintage of winter's wine. Nights with their fire of stars. Cold, exquisite winter sunrises.

L.M. Montgomery

Snow was falling, so much like stars

filling the dark trees, that

one could easily imagine

its reason for being was

nothing more than prettiness

Mary Oliver

And since it's Valentine's Day, what's better than coming home to a cup of tea and a pretty cupcake (created by a daughter) to savour in front of the fire.