Snow

This is today, November 24th, 2006. It started to snow this morning and hasn't stopped in Hope here. Big fat flakes that are wet and sticky.

I love the snow. It is a compelling mystery the affects that snow seem to have on people. For myself, I see a beautiful blanket that has many affects on a community. Many do not enjoy the snow, especially driving in it. My mother is one such. Children (in Canada, at any rate) thoroughly love building forts and snowmen and playing in it. Men like to pee in it. We like to slide on it down mountains on flat pieces of wood.

It also has the affect of dampening sound. Much of the noise in a city or town is dampened to silence because of the soft cushioning snow has on the environment. It's a beautiful silence of white. People tend to slow down, close schools and businesses, start a fire, read a book with a cup of hot chocolate. It is the essence of a Canadian winter and the weather's way setting us up for the advent of Christmas.

Here my wife and I are on a street in Victoria sometime around 2:00am. It snows only very rarely in Victoria and this was one such time so we took advantage of it to go walking under the street lights in the early morning enjoying each others company and the newfound delight of snow (that, consequently, only lasted a day). For what other weather do we get excited about like that? Well, in Victoria it's a novelty.

Snow is good for us. It slows us down. It quiets us and gets us to look at our surroundings for a while. It encourages to feel like children and to go playing again. It makes me appreciate my home and family warm inside. For some reason, a fire and hot chocolate and a book are 10 times better when it's snowing outside. Strange. Enjoy the snow!