Snow Day

It is snowing today. Looked innocent enough this morning when I left to sing at the nursing home: a flake here, a flake there. You had to watch closely to see that it was snow.
“Oh, it’s not going to stick,” I told Sonya. We got in the car and took off.
Sang at the nursing home for an hour – long enough to wear through my voice and my energy. Ended with “You Are My Sunshine,” and “Good Night, Ladies.” Looking out the windows, I could see the snow coming down quite visibly now.
I visited Christine Tokar Weil for a few minutes, giving her some photos I had printed up of the Australian branch of the Blakemore family. By that time the snow was coming down steadily, but not sticking.
We drove across the street to my church to use the facilities and of course stop and chat with people coming out of the weekly silent listening group. When we left there it was snowing heavily, but, still, not sticking.
Stopped off at Reva’s for a while and when we left there, the snow was starting to produce a white sheen on the pavement and sticking a little on the grass.
Went to Vashon Market to pick up a few necessities, and when we came out of there, there was a thick slush on the ground, and the snow was still coming down hard and definitely sticking. We beat it for home.
Which is where we are now, listening to YoYo Ma playing “The Cello Suites” “inspired by Bach.” Huh. I thought the cello suites were written by Bach. Live and learn. Cello music goes well with falling snow, I think.
The air is sweet with the fragrance of the onions and bits of ham Sonya is sautéing in preparation of a pea soup dinner. Pea soup goes good with falling snow, at least when you’re inside a warm house looking out at the snow. When it’s about done, we’ll bake some corn bread, and put together a salad of some sort. That’s dinner tonight.
We had intended to go up town to see “Milk” at the Vashon Theater this evening, but it’s snowing, and we live at the top of perhaps the worst hill on the island to go up or down in slick conditions. A veritable ski jump of a hill. So the movie is probably not going to happen.
The snow is wet and sloppy; sticking, yes, but also melting underneath, so that it doesn’t get deeper than an inch or two. Ropes of rotten snow drape off the back of the outdoor chairs and fall to the deck. Finches and juncos continue to forage on the deck where we feed them, not regarding the snow.
It’s mid-afternoon, so even though it is snowing the sky is bright and so is the world. It’s almost mid-February, and all the bulbs have pushed up outside, so I know spring is on the way and it can’t be stopped. In a few weeks, ah, the snow will be last winter’s memories and the daffodils will be in bloom. Not my daffodils; mine are still in the mesh bag I bought them in, unplanted. Oh well.
All in all, though, conditions are perfect for an afternoon snowfall. Guess I’ll finally get all those clean towels folded.