Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Snowsquall

There is a wall of cloud tonight as I race to the grocery store in the next town over and pick up some Indian take-out on the way home. It's one of the many things I love about living rurally. That you can often witness the approach of weather. Plus, the clouds towering in the sky like that make me imagine they are the shadows of the mountains I miss in British Columbia.


The way snow can whirl around and appear to stand and walk across the road in front of you is magical.  Over the field to my right, a funnel of the white stuff skips across the broken stalks toward a line of towering cedars. Ghostly fairies holding hands, dancing in a ring.

When I get home, the snowsquall arrives in full force. I love to hear there is a "weatherwatch" on the radio. Sometimes there is nothing I like better than to watch the weather from indoors and, in the winter, it's like the flickering of celluloid; some old, black-and-white classic unfolding through my window.

Actually, there is one thing I love just as much as watching the weather: hearing it; listening to the wind howl and the snow blow around as though my house is floating out at sea suddenly. I wonder what my son thinks of the wind whistling at him and rattling the windows as I lay him in his crib for the night. Sipping some hot cocoa, the logfire in the woodstove warms my eyes and, as I retire myself, the sweeping sound of this squall tonight makes me burrow a bit deeper under the blankets.

Tomorrow morning, my car will likely be buried and I must await the plow to dig out my driveway before I can go anywhere, though the feeling of being snowbound rurally out here is both magical and humbling. Like Mother Nature giving us both (and this old, fieldstone farmhouse) one massive, snowy hug...

How I love winter!

Music: Let It Snow, Dean Martin

8 comments:

Ciara Brehony said...

Oooh! I wouldn't mind that myself now, I have to say!

I do admit though, I don't savour wild winds where we are. We are too close to the sea, and the only thing keeping the sea out of our house is the railway line... eek! So windy nights make me nervous. :-)

We're having a cold snap, unusually so for this time of year. And we're holding out for snow, but no joy yet.

Enjoy!

Brian Miller said...

i like it too...as long as i am not having to drive through it...i could not help but smile thinking about hte snow dancing across the road. hope you take the time to enjoy the snow today. smiles.

Michael said...

I'm green with envy! An old farmhouse tucked away inside a snow globe warmed by a woodstove. Beautiful!

justsomethoughts... said...

i cant say truthfully that i'm in love with winter, but i do love that picture. it's especially good with the drops. i love the perspective.

johnny said...

thanx for checkin out my blog...my sister's is GREAT but she's a bad-ass in general....GO CANADA....i luv you guys (and gals...)...I am trying to be better about postin regularly....and YES....I am a big fan of the LIL...(and ELIPSES...in case you couldn't tell...)

Happy holidays....

nancy said...

HA. I have a love of ellipses as well. A bit too much. And sometimes I do the. period between two thoughts. cuz i pause a lot in my head. while writing...(and i don't find the comma sounds a long enough pause for me at times.)

thanks to you and everybody who checks out my blog (whether they comment or not). fun to meet new people out there in the big, bad world.

nancy said...

Ciara - one thing i might add is that one can never be "too close" to the sea (in my opinion) ;) i will try to send you some of our snow your way...

Only A Girl said...

What a beautiful description of winter weather. I miss the snow sometimes.