Snow

For some reason I feel pulled to talk about snow. This is crystals of water that reflect the wonder of the world around it.

I have some very wonderful snow memories. In present time, I even make new ones when it snows. When I see it has snowed or is still snowing and the plows haven’t been around, I bundle up into a snowmobile suit along with my boots and go for a walk. I love to have the flakes land on my eyelashes or face. (Such a clean feeling.) Because the road isn’t plowed, I can shuffle along in the snow, never having to pick up my feet. I do a lot of lazy things that I just do because I enjoy doing them.

Sometimes I take a camera with me to capture the beings around me that have been frosted with an inch of snow. The lights and dark contras are wonderful and exciting. These pictures always urge me to get my watercolors out and have fun with them too.

Wandering into a wooded area, I might just “plunk” down in the snow and survey the area around me. Maybe see if I am the first being to be in that area.

I remember one time when the boys had their snowmobile. One of them came home to tell me that they were “stuck” in the woods. I dressed up, got some rope out of the garage and headed back where the other brother was waiting by their machine. It seems that one of my boys is more adventurous than the other and the driver was the least. So when it came to getting up this grade, they weren’t going fast enough to make it. The machine stopped and slid back, jamming the runners into whatever was there.

We attached the rope around the front runners and then took it up to a tree. Going around the tree, we were going to use basic science to get the runners unstuck. This was fun because I weighed in at 107 pounds then, with each of my boys weighing in at around 80 or 90 pounds. We really were trying to pull the runners out of the “stuck” position, when along came another snowmobiler on this trail. He could see what we were trying to do so he stopped and came over. He leaned over grabbing this machine and lifted it back to where it was supposed to be. I untied the rope. The boys took off as did our assistant and I got to walk home in the snow alone.

Do you have any idea what it is like to lie in the snow under some bushes that are hanging out over the trail covered with “frosting”? The sun hits these crystals and everything around sparkles. It is like living in a crystal world. Then every once in a while a breeze comes along to tease and causes the bushes to sprinkle you with a few flakes right in the face. I saw that shudder when you read this but it is delightful.

Can life really be that simple? Yes, I happen to know that it can because I have been there. What is it about falling backwards into a snow bank or snow pile that is so much fun? There is a sense of trust when one does this. Letting go and allowing the universe to be there for you. Snow is wonderful.

Let me tell you about another snow memory.

My folks were very outgoing people. We had company all the time.

One time we had a skating party for the kids that belonged to the “Y”. Dad had a large skating rink plowed off the lake in front of our house. Then he put a card table out there and on top of it was a very large cardboard box. One side of the box was open and inside the box, Dad put a record player and records. On top of the box, he put a crook-neck lamp that shined a cone of light down on the table. To connect all of this, he ran a line from the ice rink to the house.

Mom was busy making her famous Sloppy Joes and Dad brought home a juice machine that dispensed two different kinds of juice. So we were ready for this party inside and out.

From the living room window we could see Dad setting everything up even though it was starting to snow. It was a light-fine snow that was coming down, the kind that you see on the front of Christmas Cards.

Finally all the kids got there. They put their skates on and headed to the rink. There were about 20 or 30 kids out there skating to the music. Dad skated for a while then went into the house.

Now the funniest thing happened. The snow started coming down a little bit more and if you stood in the living room, looking out the window at the card table on the rink, you would think that no one was out there. All that could be seen was the card table in the circle of light from the lamp. Every once in a while someone would skate into the light to change the record and skate out again. If you went out there and were skating outside the circle, you could see everyone but from the house it looked like no one was there.

I guess they all had a good time and even liked Mom’s cooking because they came back for a dance party that we had at another time.

People who don’t like snow, maybe don’t have nice memories of it. It is never too late to make some new ones.