Yesterday was a perfect snow day! I woke to the gray blur of dawn and the yard and roads were already blanketed in about 4 inches of snow. I got out early to make a feeble attempt at shoveling the walkway and then decided I was much better off just sweeping the porches with my broom. Better yet, I got my camera and dashed around the backyard looking for hiding spots to capture the snow covered branches and other odd items of my interest without getting the camera too wet. I was greeted by a family of deer known for loitering in my yard, and at one point I looked eye to eye towards the great buck that took a step in my direction to assert his power. Gently I talked to him and asked his permission to continue out back to photograph the stream. At his lead the whole family bolted over the picket fence and ran into the neighbor's yard. It was gray and cold and windy and I only lasted outside for about a half an hour. To warm myself I baked some coconut meringue cookies with cheery maraschino cherries on top just to keep things festive. It seems like years since we've had snow of this magnitude, so why not celebrate! There was warm pea soup and biscuits for lunch and lots of green tea! In the afternoon the winds started to kick up fiercely and the snow became almost blinding. Gerry and I started on a walk around the block and I had to go back to get my sunglasses to keep the swirling snow from blinding me. We walked about a mile and it was unusual to see people with their snow blowers stop and wave hi to us. Something about a storm must excite people and they seem to become friendlier. At one point an electrical wire fell into the street right in front of us and we had to wave a car down and let them know to detour, as running into the camouflaged wire would have been dangerous. The visibility was so poor we couldn't see the end of the street, but we could hear the sounds of cracking tree limbs in the distance. Once home, Gerry decided to start shoveling as I made a snow woman in the whipping winds. I had to work fast as it was indeed a true blizzard. We had hamburgers, french fries, and baked beans for dinner as all of the outside activity allowed us the extra starch and calories to really picnic by the TV for a game of Jeopardy. This morning the sun rose with striated colors of purple, pale blue, and apricot. By the time the sun fully rose, we were outside for more shoveling and car cleaning as the blizzard left a foot or more of snow. Yesterday was so gray and dark, but today the sun shone brilliantly in the blue sky, melting the snow off the branches and wires in the balminess of a 30 degree day. Everything looked so crisp and clean and vivid! Winter isn't as hard to take when we have days like these!
