Winter is coming…
Cold is here.
No, seriously. It’s about 16 degrees right now (-8.8 for you Celsius folks). As I shake like a human maraca next to my space heater, I find myself wanting to express to the world a major pet peeve of mine: When the temperature drops below freezing and there is NO SNOW. I feel this should be a crime of nature somehow. What a cruel fate to be forced to endure such bitter cold with no reprieve of that magical white mixture that seems to transform everything it touches.
But I’m reminded that only a few weeks ago, such a magical event did occur. For you Northerners, I can understand this being a common occurrence and therefore, not a big deal. Oh but it is… Keep in mind, the last snowfall I saw was in 2011. SIX YEARS AGO. Six years since I’ve seen anything outside my window besides a dusting of flurries. Six years since I was able to play in the snow. So you can imagine the utter glee I felt to wake up on December 8 and see the winter wonderland unfolding outside my window. I came very close to crying from sheer joy. I managed to run a quick errand and beheld the magic of the flurries as everyone was talking excitedly as if old friends over the white beauty falling from the sky. There were no strangers, only wide-eyed comrades.
So while I currently sulk in the dry, freezing air, wishing for snow, I’ll content myself with sharing pictures from December with you. Between artsy angles and Snapseed editing (aka Briana tries to be aesthetic), here are my captures. Enjoy!
“The first fall of snow is not only an event, it is a magical event. You go to bed in one kind of a world and wake up in another quite different, and if this is not enchantment then where is it to be found?”
Of course, I had to actually go play IN the snow. It actually stuck around long enough for me to get a photoshoot in (stay tuned for that post, coming soon!) and build a snowman! Naturally me being me, I couldn’t just a build a regular ol’ snowman. No, I had to build a snow BB8. (Not pictured – my attempt at making it look more like BB8 with orange food colouring. It, uh…just ended up looking like “yellow snow”…) Snowballs were also hurled. Mainly at me. By my roommates. I couldn’t waddle fast enough to pick up snow to retaliate. Next time, Gadget…
For those of you who have experienced snow recently, what did you do? Was it a harrowing experience of shoveling out your car to go to work? Or did you turn into a kid again and play snowball war with your neighbours? Leave your experiences in the comments below! Let me live vicariously through them!
So I live in the Midwest and see plenty of snow every winter, but my favorite memory of the snow is from a few years back, when my university had an unexpected and very rare snow day! I was part of the university swim team and lived on a street just off campus, where there were 3 other houses that were also home to swim team members. I was walking back to my house from campus, and my two friends were already out playing in the snow. I joined them, which quickly turned into building a snowman on the front porch of the swim boys next door, which got them out of the house and into the snow. We then teamed up and snuck down the road to another house of our friends, and started throwing snowballs at the door until they came outside to retaliate! Then the last swim house noticed what was going on and joined in on the fun – turning the whole street into a full-on snowball war for quite a while! It was all very spontaneous and unexpected and so, so much fun. I remember seeing the old couple who lived across the street watching us through their window and laughing! That snowday and snowball fight is one of my favorite college memories and one I won’t ever forget.
That sounds so awesome! I’ve always wanted to do something like that. But we never have enough snow here (and with enough warning) to get people together to have such shenanigans. Maybe one day. 🙂