Monday, December 11, 2017

Gratitude Monday: Aspects of snow

We had our first snow of the season on Saturday here in the District They Call Columbia. It started out in the People’s Republic of Reston around 0740, and I was a little anxious about driving, but I had two weeks of errands to run, so I headed out around 0800.

Pretty much everywhere I saw pairs and more of sanding/plowing trucks idling at the sides of roads. Even in the Wegmans parking lot, there was a pickup truck with a plow on the front end, ready to clear away any accumulations. At some point in my two-hour sojourn, visibility was limited, and my windscreen wipers got a good workout. But I made it back safely, refilled the bird feeders (sadly, the sparrows are back, so it the one with the Fine Tunes mix gets emptied in less than 24 hours), and settled in to watch the birds and listen to Christmas music.

The snow stopped late in the day, and as far as I can tell, it never stuck to paved surfaces. I scraped my car off, so it was ready to go to Metro this morning, using the scraper I bought (along with a snow shovel) only last Wednesday.

I did notice the difference between the weekend’s snow here and what I encountered in Québec City last weekend—where it was considerably colder. I loved watching it fall from my hotel room; walking on it, not so much. But I’ll give you a couple of videos and pix.




Here's a long shot of it falling against the building:


And here it is closer:


I’m so grateful for a snow shovel that I don’t have to use yet, for having a well-heated house, for the gift of being surrounded by music, for happy birds, and for all the blessings in my life that watching snow fall brings to my mind.



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