Snow Frosting!

We finally got more than a dusting of snow this week!

We woke to an otherworldly wonderland of frosted trees and fences.

The snow stuck to pretty much everything.

It was, as my kids call it, "snowman snow" or "snowball snow."

flinging snow balls  Jai alai/atlatl style

my oldest- the snowman is 5 1/2 ft tall

It has been an extremely mild winter here in the heartland, so mild that daffodil greens have been peeking out since before Christmas!

sledding in the back hay field

Having lived in colder climbs (like Michigan) in times past,
I really miss the snow.

I think that my children have learned to appreciate snow too....

the pristine blanket of sound-muffling, 

light-reflecting snow,
and the benefits it offers in the way of art
(building structures, sculpting, making impressions, etc.)
animal tracking,
and crystalline beauty.

filling the sled and hauling it elsewhere to dump it

making snow angels

working on an igloo

Around here folks don't seem to like it much,
and the mere threat of it in a weather forecast causes much complaint.

"Do you like it in your face? Yes, I like it anyplace!"

Some prepare for the blizzard of the century
every time flurries fall.

Others drive 10 miles an hour
(even on the highway)
no matter how bad the roads are
as long as there is white ground.

If any flakes accumulate,
 Local schools always seem to have delayed start times.
  

But as a child
 I remember sledding,
ice-skating,
cross-country skiing,
 walking to school with the snow knee-high,
and making snow sculptures that we "painted" with a spray bottle
full of food coloring solution.

As a newly-wed I remember the forsythias being so laden that they bent to the ground,
the luxury of plunging through unplowed neighborhoods in my all-wheel drive,
snow on the ground all winter
(and often on the pumpkins in mid-october.)
And I enjoyed it!

 So when it snows,
"school" is delayed for my family too.

It is delayed so that we can revel in the simple, striking beauty
of frozen, crystallized water,

so we can feel the sharp shock to our lungs as we inhale the frosty air,

so that we can better appreciate the warmth of our home after coming indoors,

and so that when those daffodils lurking under the snow do burst into bloom-
we'll be all the more grateful for their beauty.