Feb. 26
th, 2010
Softly, silently, floating by
crystalline, whirling lacy traces from the sky....
Want to read poems about the snow?
http://www.blackcatpoems.com/s/snow_poems.html
What does one do on a snow day? Some of the things that you have been putting off to do at home, get through essays and responses you were planning to score anyway only now you can do it without feeling the pressure of minding your time before the next class begins, and meeting the commitment to do some "seat time" for writing.
Ah yes, those are the comfortable parts about a snow day. Now, for the sort of downside: having to deal with clearing sidewalks, driveways, steps, wet shoes/boots, jackets. I said sort of because as long as I feel good I really don't mind dealing with any of that either (besides I have help).
Looking out a window I see... A snow laden tree -- beautiful, inspirational, calming in a sense, even when it masks impending danger.
Then there are the sounds - breaking, cracking,
slissh, whooshing, falling,
pweff! - a sinister, no, secretive woo of the wind still carrying the silent flurry of flakes.
After moving more north than south, I very much remember my first reaction to waking in the middle of the night to look out of a window to see if it was snowing. "the breast of the new fallen snow, gave the lustre of midday" popped into my head at the breathtaking sight.
Having grown up where the average winter temperature was in the 40s in January, 50s to 60s in November/December, it was not unusual for the temperatures to range from 30 degrees to 75 degrees. Fog I knew well, having walked out my front door into a foggy day. Snow was a fairytale; on the other hand, well, there were frosty mornings, cold enough to freeze the dew before sunrise quickly began to warm the day. (Yes, half the fun of growing up is being outdoors-- witness to the dawning of a new day, examining grass for dewdrops.) Snow -- was on the news, in movies, in photos in the newspaper -- but not an expected event in south Louisiana.
I do remember one time we did have a "snow accumulation." There was such excitement in the house! We younger siblings barely had on our coats as we followed our brother out with a cup to scoop up the watery, icy stuff before it just became wetness on the grass. He said we could freeze the snow and save it for later to look at after dinner. Well, if you don't know how that turned out then you haven't been around little kids with warm hands.
Snow was stuff you
put on "flocked" Christmas trees. Artificial snow was available for purchase in a can from the hardware store. We used the canned snow to "frost" the squares of the large picture window that let the sunlight flood the living room by day. I think I recall that canned snow was found to cause cancer and all sorts of ailments. I expect the formula has been improved. Of course, we didn't exactly ask mother if we could "play" with the "snow." Every time she found us doing something she thought might cause a problem we were scolded, but hey we weren't thinking about our safety -- we were kids who wanted to play in the snow even if it came in a can.
We played pretend snow storm once or twice by tearing up bits of toilet paper, or starting a pillow fight and sending feathers flying! Needless to say, that was trouble for us. The cleaning up after our "snow storm" was not fun and back then, no one made us hot cocoa for our efforts!
Ah! childhood!
Oh well, I guess I'll go help shovel.
