Snow globes

This morning it was like waking up in a snow globe that had been left on the kitchen counter overnight. Looking out of the kitchen window everything glistened, like a fairy had glued crystals to all of the branches and twigs and sprinkled them on top of the snow like a dusting of sugar. It was beautiful. There was no wind, not even a small stir. Where I had shoveled a path on the driveway to the pine trees and down to the street, there were no rivulets of melted ice creating fingers reaching into the path. The edges that I cut with the snow shovel were still nice and straight and the path was clear. The small icebergs that were created when I tossed snow and ice onto the side still stood proudly like sails in the snow.

It has been a strange snow. A day of light fluffy snow that fell with total quiet followed by hours of light sleet and freezing rain. It created this beautiful smooth glistening surface. Beautiful but painful to walk through. The crust isn't strong enough to hold up a person or small puppy but when you break through it is like breaking through a window pane.

All day yesterday the sledders and snowboarders on hill in behind the house sounded like road graders crunching through gravel. No stray cars could sneak up on you, they sounded like snowplows trying to smooth a washboard. This winter wonderland is not quiet.

Today, the third day of frozen life, the sun is out and everything is starting to melt from the bottom up. The house is warming the roof and the water is running down the drain pipes. My greatest fear now is that whole slabs of ice will come crashing down crushing gutters and shrubs.

The back deck made of Trek cleared easily with the snow being happy to slide off the edge and the yummy ice topping sliding down on the frozen yard like marbles sent skittering. The front sidewalk is more reluctant to give up its ice coating. So I swept off the loose icebergs and snow and will let the sun have its way with the errant ice.

I like my snow, snow like. Softly falling onto the ground silencing everything in the neighborhood except the gleeful sounds of children sliding quietly down the hill. This is a noisy winter coating, crunching and painful to walk through.

I have lived in the North and the South and despite the protests of my New Jersey born and bred mother, I have always felt more like a southerner than a northerner. I know how to bundle up and mush on through priding myself in the conquered snowdrifts and the howling wind bested, but in truth I have always hated being cold. Dad's axiom to was always stand up straight, take a deep breath of refreshing (freezing air) and you will feel much better and you won't be cold. Maybe frozen lungs keep the rest of you from feeling the cold.

This storm I did what everyone else did. I turned on the TV to the local all news channel with 'weather on the 1's' at a minimum and stayed attentive to the 24 hour weather reports that were only occasionally set aside for national news. I shoveled little knowing that in a few days the sun would come out and do the hard work for me. I put on tights and socks and uggs bundled in turtlenecks, sweater and snow jacket, added gloves, hat, hood and scarf for my walks with the pooch. I tutted at the people who drove too fast on our unplowed road - they must be from the north - show-offs.

For the past two days there has been no mail, schools are still closed, the trash guys still haven't come, but the mall opened on time after closing yesterday at 5PM. Maybe the trucks will make it to the grocery store and there will be fresh food. For a girl who lived in Nova Scotia in a little town with a harbour that hosted iceberglets and seals in the winter you would think I would have toughened up. Like many things in life that you muster through because you have no choice, your mind quickly returns you to your normal. My normal is here.