let it snow??

There is no secret as to the trepidation I feel regarding driving on frozen roads.  My idea of how this should be done on I290 at 6:00 p.m. any weekday is to outfit all the vehicles with foam rubber front and back and let everyone join bumpers in a friendly sort of way, each pushing the other along to their respective exits.  This would be so much more civil than moshpit skiing on four wheels.

Regardless, the day is coming soon that I will join the moshpit, hoping to stay on the fringe and not end up in a stage dive into the fray.  That day is not today, though.  Today I woke up to a lovely blanket of white on all of my now-familiar rooftops, water tanks, and deck gardens.  I had imagined snow in nice big fluffy flakes floating freely and framing fresh footprints far below.  Okay, I ran out of f's.

Today's snow is fine flurries (sorry) much like I would see in Alabama but that never amounted to anything more than a tease of snow cream and closed schools.  Here the tiny flurries fall thick and fast and constantly, ever so slowly adding nths of layers to the batting already covering the city.  By day's end, accumulation will be measured in inches, and hopefully by Monday, it will be mostly a memory.

The fine white stuff also is not making for too much of a problem on the streets.  It's not cold enough to cause buildup on the wet roads, at least in the city.  I know, however, that this has to be an anomaly, and that most other snow I see this winter will be be less likely to offer this sense of security and safety.  At the moment, I can just sit here and enjoy the view, in awe of the obvious magnitude of tiny flakes continuously wafting down from the sky and creating a sheer-curtain effect as I look out.  It reminds me of a perfectly clear, cold night in rural Alabama when you look up and suddenly find that the sky is almost completely covered in tiny twinkling lights; so many that you have to wonder where they've all been until then, knowing they've been right there, just not as visible.

I'll enjoy this first snow, knowing I can do that without trepidation.  The only thing I have to worry about is busting my butt when I go out walking in it.  At least I'll find out just how good my new fuzzy winter boots are.