Flakes

We had our first real snow yesterday. This photo was taken two or three hours after it started, in a tree-sheltered courtyard near our house. By then, there were probably two, maybe three inches on the ground. Walking down to the Post Office was a matter of scuffing rather than striding. There was much more on the ground by 3:00 or so, when Paul and I had to shovel and sand to get his car up the side driveway. Things turned a little icy and heavy and we eventually got perhaps 8 inches, though a nearby town got an official 13. The road crews all had their work cut out for them. Towns all over the state canceled school, and many opened a couple of hours late this morning. (Modern children are such wusses. When I was a boy, we walked miles through massive drifts, carrying our books and dragging the weak behind us on toboggans we built ourselves out of barn doors and random farm implements. And we did all this dressed for tennis and humming Peter and Gordon songs.)

Some of us are off to warmer climes tomorrow morning, so our delight in the beauty of the white blanket is tempered by concern that our plane might not fly (though predictions are good). If we make it I’ll post a picture of a palm tree. Otherwise, slush.