First snow
falls outside,
but I focus on spring
blooming on my ottoman
stems set in Aalto’s iconic vase,
a miniature Finnish lake,
and knit.
.
.
This is an Iittala vase designed by Alvar Aalto in 1936 and made at the Iittala glassworks factory in Karhula, Finland. Once upon a time, I lived in Karhula. (I learned to knit there, actually).
It snowed
and snowed
and snows
and snows.
The radio announces
the school districts are cancelling school.
The radio announcers laugh
at how happy the kids are to have extended vacation.
Meanwhile the teachers
text one another messages that always end,
“YAY!”
.
.
.
Living in Canada, we’re used to snow. We have the equipment and infrastructure to clear it. As a result, neither as student nor teacher had I experienced a “snow day” before. Sometimes when we lived north in Prince George, BC if it was below -40 C (or F they’re the same at that temperature) the buses wouldn’t run, but schools were still open and teachers were expected to be there. It started snowing Saturday, January 3rd and then it kept snowing Sunday and Monday. Yesterday (Monday) at 9 pm 20 inches (51 cm) had accumulated on our back deck. The snow clearing machinery couldn’t keep up. The side roads were plugged. Cars were stuck all over the place. Because plows were clearing roads, they couldn’t clear school parking lots. So school was cancelled! Yesterday and today!
Yesterday I used the time to do some reading I didn’t get to over the holiday, because I was finishing work on my latest novel project, While I Was Out. Last night, just when the second closure was announced, I got the syllabus and links for my latest Masters class in my email. This class is delivered online. So! Lucky me, I get five bonus hours to work on my course. That makes today a professional development day for me. 🙂
Is that rain or is it snow?
The weather out there doesn’t know.
But it’s coming quickly through the air,
so I won’t be going anywhere.
The snow is melting!
I hear water tumbling like a waterfall
dripping into pool.
Cascading down my window blinds
puddling inside my door.
The snow is melting!
and I need a new roof.
.
.
.
Winter
marching
heavily through spring.
Winter
march
away,
and take
all this falling snow
with you.
.
.
Heavy snow today, making the highway treacherous. Fun drive to work. We’re ready for less white and more warmth in the air!
Snow falling
a white world
Pure motives
clean character
Love calling
to warm bed
longing
laughing
falling.
.
.
(This is my 1300th blog post! Hurrah!)
Snow falling outside the window
Snow falling on the venues at Sochi
While I watch winter,
I dream of hot water:
Olympic bath time.
(They don’t offer a medal for shivering
and that’s my best winter activity).
Fence around our snowy
yard, bound by snow laden trees
Somewhere a white dog.
.
.
He’s hiding in plain sight. Where are you OJ?! Good thing he always comes when I whistle for him!
Wafting on the cool wind
as I plow through the snow to the car
comes the heavy scent of roses.
I look for the source without success
as the air is saturated with summer
in frosty winter:
Perfumed paradox.
The world is white
but my path was cleared
by a shovel wielding
snowman.
.
.
Some mornings I grumble as I’m awakened by the scraping of the snow shovel in the driveway, but then I have a moment of thankfulness, from the comfort of my warm bed, that hubby faithfully does it, so that I don’t have to on mornings like this, when there has been a heavy snowfall overnight. I just get to admire the beauty of it on my way to work, without bearing the weight of it on the end of a shovel. 😉
Shawn L. Bird 