Archive for 2009
Literary Mileage
After the Fall
Monday, December 28th, 2009
Washington snowstorm, Saturday, December 19, 2009
By mid-week the weather people excitedly predicted a major snow event heading our way. Their hype led to the expected pre-storm-panic-buying at Safeway and Home Depot, and the subsequent news story. We were hammered by the collision of a frigid nor’easter off the coast and serious rain skulking in from the south. Dire warnings paid off with bull’s eye accuracy—anywhere from 15-20 inches, depending on your exact location. From mine here on Capitol Hill, I’d say 15 inches. Nature put on an extraordinary show.
Snow drew stark lines along each tree branch, creating a charcoal-on-parchment composition of the trees.
Here’s Mary McLeod Bethune, with her snowy white hat in the park.
The fir tree outside my window makes me think of an elegant Victorian lady in a lavish gown of green and white. It forms a profile amid the oaks and elms that are completely bare of leaves, and is a graceful complement to this cross-country skier.
So, I baked cookies, built a fire, read a magazine and watched the steady progress of zillions of flakes flutter to the ground, forming an exotic coverlet everywhere.
8:00 a.m. Sunday…after the fall…
The white expanse is punctuated now with brown and black dogs, men in blue parkas, a woman in a red parka with matching backpack, a child in bright orange, more guys in red stocking hats, one set of brown ski overalls, and a little black dog in a red sweater. I can feel their exuberance from here– racing around, sloughing off cabin fever, loving every minute of their freedom.
Wishing you freedom and peace in the New Year and the slower pace of a snowy day.
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