Just some thoughts about snow

Snow - you love or or you hate it. And sometimes it's both at the same time. (Ever been shoveling with your back hurting and your toes frozen and you take a break and notice how pretty and sparkly the snow is?)


Snow blankets everything in your yard and hides the dead plants, the bald spots in your yard, the neighbor's trash that somehow ends up in your back yard, and it makes it all beautiful.


At night when it's coming down and it catches just a bit of the light from a street light - it is just magical. Can this ever be captured by a photograph? I don't think so - unless you're looking at a photograph and remembering.

I have friends in Honduras who have never seen snow. They know what it is. Nieve. I couldn't remember the word for snow in Spanish and so I described it to them saying "lluvia" (rain) and "mucho frio" (very cold) and they knew what I was talking about. I demonstrated with shivering and doing twinkle fingers coming down. Do they understand? I'm not sure, but they smile and sometimes laugh. Are they laughing at me and my pantomine? (This is my main form of communication with them and there's a lot of laughing.) Or do they wonder and wish they could experience it just once.

(This is the family that was helping me with "nieve."
I was teasing them - "you think THIS is cold?" Love them.)

Sidenote - the pastor of the village in Honduras that we visit came up and visited us several Novembers ago. Amazingly it snowed the morning they were going to the airport to fly home. I was told that they were like kids brushing it off the car and the bushes and laughing. How do they describe it to the people back home? I wonder. :)

I've read that nearly half the world has never seen it snowing. (I guess parts of India can see snow capped mountains, but haven't experienced it.) Are we part of those blessed by snow or cursed by it? I guess it depends on your perspective. A little is wonderful, but too much is... too much.

(view of downtown Dayton from the
19th floor of the Key Bank building)

Last year Jason and I stayed at a cabin in Gatlinburg for our anniversary. The cabin was at a top of a steep hill and very private, we loved it! And then it started snowing. There was no snow in the forecast, but I guess these things happen in the mountains. We ended up getting snowed in and spent the day sitting in front of the wood burning fireplace and TV. It was wonderful! And then the electricity went out. It was out for just an hour, but that's just one of those examples of the snow being a blessing and a curse.

(Hawks Nest cabin in Gatlinburg)

So here it is, February 16th and Dayton has gotten 20 inches of snow in three different snow storms over the last two weeks. It hasn't gotten above 32 degrees, so it's all still there. We keep shoveling our sidewalks and the parking area in front of our house and we're starting to run out of places to put the snow. Last night I'd dump the snow on the top of the pile and it would fall back into the space I just shoveled. Funny, my back isn't hurting as much as it was after shoveling the first snow fall. I guess I'm getting conditioned to this. Well, there's something I guess.

(taken 2/6/10 - 1st round of snow -
check out how high the snow goes on the door)

(taken 2/10/10 - 2nd round of snow)

(no photo for 3rd round - I don't care anymore)

I miss my shoes. I have a great pair of leather ankle boots that has gotten me through 8 winters. I can wear them with dress pants and they look fine. I'm so sick of wearing them though. I have a pair of hiking boots that I like to wear, but for some reason I can't find them. (Honduras friends - did any of you perhaps end up with these?) So I'm stuck with the same pair of boots day after day after day. I swear it's torture to expect a woman to wear the same pair of shoes every day. I have actually worn some of my favorite shoes around the house because I miss wearing them. (Okay, not really, but I want to.)

(Lenny thinks he's a snow cat)

Seven years ago I considered moving to Florida where my mom and step-dad live. I also considered moving to Seattle where my brother and sis-in-law live. (Please note that both of these places have what I consider to be ideal weather. Though I might miss the sun in Seattle, I miss it here in Ohio too.) I was newly divorced, had just finished my degree, and was working a temp job. Unfortunately I needed to save up some money to make either of those moves, even with family offering to help me.

And then it happened, I got a really great job here in Dayton making pretty good money. And then I bought a house. And then I married a man who never thought he'd move 3 hours from home, let alone the other end of the country. So here I am, stuck in a snowy state - with a great job, a pretty nice house, and a wonderful loving husband (and great family who live only 3 hours away). I guess I shouldn't complain too much, but I still have those days I wish I would have moved to Florida. (Jason would have still married me, right?) :)