Snowball! What snowball!
Ooh look over there!
Heh heh! I (snow) balled you!
Hey you!
This snow ball has your name on it. See? Look real close— ha! GOTCHA!


The grey clouds above me litter the landscape with white chaff, falling in family clumps to form a white duvet over the sleepy landscape. While the exquisite beauty of snow is most obvious in the small crystals that fit the popular concept of a snowflake, giant flakes have their own charm as they spiral and slowly flutter downward.

By morning, the freezing rain had deposited several centimeters of clear ice on all exposed surfaces. Then its aftermath, the skies. When dawn broke, the first rays of the sun struck the tops of the leaf-less maple along the ridge to the west, shining back in a dazzling light. As the sun rose further, its brilliance reflected and refracted off ever more of the crystal garden which covered the countryside. Barbed wire fences sparkled like diamond necklaces. Weeds rising from the snow resembled the stems of crystal goblets. Rough wood shone while gentle breezes played branches like wind chimes; stronger gusts breaking long ice chains, sending them tinkling and crashing as they hit the ground.

Periods of freezing rain like this one may fall in any winter storm crossing North America. Ice storms transform roads into huge skating rinks and leave downed power lines and broken trees in their wake. However, like a heavy snow storm, the damage and inconvenience are often tempered by dazzling beauty.

The beauty of snow is appreciated by some and hated by a few others. We must remember that snow is only around for a short while till spring comes and the temperatures rise above thirty two degrees Fahrenheit. When that day in the spring comes then all of that wet beautiful cold fun stuff becomes just plain old water again.

Last friday we received our first big snow of the season. It started out with sleet and ice and ended with several inches of snow.

I breathe in the cool autumnal air of our December, and think about the Rubaiyat, where Omar Khayyam describes the fleeting snows of Persia:

The Worldly Hope men set their Hearts upon
Turns Ashes -- or it prospers; and anon
Like Snow upon the Desert's dusty Face
Lighting a little Hour or two -- is gone.

Oh! There comes our neighbour.

I love the excitement of their son’s eyes when he watches the snow fall. I smile each time he sticks his tongue out in hopes of catching a mouth full of snowflakes. I laugh each time I see him trudge around in his snowsuit while trying to lift his heavy booted feet through snow that’s up to his thighs. He tells his mom that she is the best in this world because she has made their snowman the best in the neighborhood as he throws a snowball at her and then goes wild with laughter because he “really got her this time balled with snow”. And this made snow more beautiful.