It's really pretty. It softens the world, and, after yesterday's news from Ohio, I feel that I could use a little softening. As I watch it fall, I think about all the snows I have known in my life. I've lived (mostly) in Alaska, Washington, and Utah--so I have some snow-life experience. Today's snow consists of tiny dot-flakes, wet, and thick, though falling slowly. My school is on the side of the mountain--but you can't see the mountain!--so today's snow is kind of like being inside a thin cloud.
On Sunday, while we were watching Downton Abbey, my husband commented on the snow in one of the scenes. The flakes were really large puffs of cotton, and they floated in the air! They didn't fall so much as swirl around. It was a lovely scene. It didn't look cold, rather like a snow globe scene. That conversation about snow, combined with today's fall of it, has made me think of all the different kinds of snow there can be. I can think of a few. Want to add??
Dry powder that blows away with the movement of my boots along the walk: I imagine I am a giant, in control of the elements. Swish. I step and, Swish, the snow parts in front of me.
Crusty snow that comes down wet and warm before the cold winds turn the top to a crust. I wish I were a feather so that I could blow along the crusty top without breaking through to experience the suck and pull of ice chunks that inevitably find their way inside my boots--no matter how tall they are--and turn to cold water.
Just-right snow with enough water to make a ball but not so much as to make either slush or ice. Perfect for snow angels and snow men and snow ball fights--all the fun things we associate with snow.
Snow certainly does have its special qualities. Sometimes we get rain snow. It falls like rain, but it is snow. The floating snow globe snow is the most fun to watch, especially when you have a spotlight on it in the night.
ReplyDeleteBlizzard snow that stings like a million grains of sand blasting you in the face, making you wish you were inside...
ReplyDeleteStyrofoam snow, or snowflakes that fall like little snowballs, with no feathering, so they just sit like miniature snowballs on top of previously fallen snow or on the ground, retaining their round shape, like styrofoam pellets. They aren't much good for looking at or for making into snowballs. If they'd stay frozen they'd be good packing material!
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