Sunday 6 December 2009

hazy shades of winter

Last Tuesday:

I was waiting for an appointment, spending some time happily down by in the park with a coffee* and paperback. While it was too wet out (there was a drizzle) to really be in the park, it was just warm enough to sit in my car and happily glug coffee, listening to the radio and turning pages.

I was getting lost in the characters when all of a sudden I noticed an absence of sound, like the world was suddenly holding its' breath.

What was different?

I raised my head slowly and peered out over the river. Same scene, same glimmering expanse. It was still chilly....and.....

Something tapped on the window. And into that hush, as I watched, bemused and a little thrilled, the first snowflakes of the season came flurrying down. Beautiful, really, watching everything get coated in whiteness. Seeing everything so stark in late autumn get softened by snow.

It didn't stick, of course. The Atlantic is still too warm to have anything stay long.

So it cleared and we had some fine days, days where the kids ran around without coats, days when getting a few more days out of summer shoes wasn't a terribly foolish idea, days when going outside was a time of marveling This is December? and sniffing for burning brush.

Today:

The world is white. Which is misleading, because it's all slush under the prettiness. The kids have been outside and come back, wet to the skin, mittens sopping, and telling tales of snow sculptures and sledding - and I stand at the window, clutching my mug, and think

I don't wanna go out there before, say, March.

and

I'm really, really too old for this stuff.




*I think I've noted this before, but around here it's always I had a coffee or I had a cup of tea. By now it's habit and I only notice when I'm writing it down.

5 comments:

Stomper Girl said...

The city I grew up in occasionally had light snowfalls which only lasted a morning. We'd get so excited when it happened. Meanwhile my two children have never seen snow; we are too hopeless to even organise a drive out to the mountains for them (Next year, we keep saying, next year...)

Woman in a Window said...

Oh, it's beautiful, beautiful, beautiful and fricken cold. Already. But I do love it. (Minus the fricken cold.) And the kids, they eat it up!

xo
erin

Sweet Coalminer said...

I remember snows on the ground in chicago at Halloween or shortly thereafter when I was a child. I took my kids out in a rare L.A. rain today and they were so miserable and cold and hated the rain noise. I'm jealous that your kids have a little more experience with weather, but I feel for you on the mittens, scarves, coats, boots, shoveling, can't-run-out-in-your-crocs situation, also.

Mike said...

My wife would say it's a good habit to have (coffee). I'm currently sitting here in very cold wet rain and miserable. I actually had to put on long pants for the first time this year....

thatgirlblogs said...

snowed like mad here in northern california today! should be another snow in about... 30 years, I'd say?

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