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Monday, January 4, 2010

First Snow, 2010

The New Year swept in on a carpet of white, erasing the sharp lines, the boulders and ditches, all the jagged edges of 2009; for this moment, it hangs in front of us, washed and bleached, an empty palette containing the smallest of brush strokes. It’s impossible to keep the snow clean, though I always wish we could. Occasionally though, a storm hits just right, occurring on a weekend, at the end of a vacation so the town delays the clean up. Then you wake up to an immaculate world, trees slumping their shoulders with the weight of wet snow, an indentation in front of the house where the driveway is supposed to be, a divot for the unplowed street. Out back the ledge becomes a hill of cloth, dimpled only by the snow that has shaken itself off of swaying pines.

It’s rare to capture a moment like this, and you have to get up early. Too soon a convoy of plows rumbles and lurches down the street, steel blades sparking as they hit the frozen pavement. They spin salt-treated sand in their wake and the melting begins. Too soon, we notice the refrigerator is empty of milk and groceries; and the snow in the driveway needs to go too. Footprints walk a path behind the house.

For a time though, the world, like this New Year, is clean and covered. Sound is muted, softened like ears stuffed with cotton and life feels that way too, blanketed, muffled, holding its breath, wrapped in wool and rubbing cold toes together, warming up--while waiting to gear up--underneath.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Lovely, good lady. Just lovely. Now I want it to snow again here.

Sharon said...

Wonderful metaphor. Ah the possibilities...

Bethany Wiggins said...

Fresh snow does wonders for a grimy world. But then it gets old (like here!). Beautiful post!

Helen Ginger said...

Wonderful post. It definitely creates an image, even for someone like me who rarely sees or frolics in snow.

Helen
Straight From Hel

Elana Johnson said...

I like how things sound in the snow. It makes everything quieter, as if somehow my life is less rushed when there's snow on the ground. That's how it makes me feel. :)