Winter Walk

Like I said yesterday, we got quite a bit of snow and I love it! We got about 5 inches in "normal" areas. What do I consider normal and why is it in quotation marks, you ask. Well, I thought in general we only got about 5 inches until I went on my winter walk this morning.

I promised you a couple weeks ago that I would get some pictures of the Huckleberry Trail, so today I got a two-fer. I went out around 10 (because the high today was 47 and I knew it would start melting early) for a nice mid-morning walk. It was a pretty magical walk, made better by a joining friend. You would think living in the same town would mean we could see each other a lot, but both of us being teachers means little extra time. Today was the perfect opportunity to do some catching up.

I love this part. It has high boulders rising on each side. Even when it's warm out the air between the rocks is very cool. It always seems wet. As a bit of a rock nerd thanks to some Girl Scout trips, I feel like the rocks are so alive and constantly changing - even if we can't see that change in years. It's pretty awesome to be literally in the middle of that. When there are so few formations like this around the trail, I wonder how it came to look like that.

This is the covered bridge I told you about. I can't wait until I get out here again in a couple weeks to take the non-snow pictures. I just wish these pictures would allow you to experience the smells the feel of the air and all the sounds that go along with the experience.

                               So many bridges, so many small creeks that run along the trail.

 

 

Here's another, newer looking bridge. And of course a picture with me on it so you know I really was here.










 I really wish the rest of you could have been on my walk this morning. The reason I said we had 5 inches in the "normal" areas is because when you get to bridges like these on the trail, that naturally freeze quicker than other surfaces and in general have less traffic than, say, actual road-bridges, it was more like 8 inches. I am suddenly reminded of the poem (song) Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening.

Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening

by (appropriately) Robert Frost

Whose woods these are I think I know

His house is in the villiage though

He will not see me stopping here

to watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

I love his prose. The only difference between this poem and my walk is that as we came back, we didn't hear the sound of "downy flake," it was more like huge drops of melting snow that we had to dodge.

Miles to go, friends - and many things to do. Like head to the gym. Hope some of you got to enjoy a snow day or Presidents Day or otherwise had a fun Monday like I did!!

If you want to see the rest of the pictures from my snow day walk, you can check them out at snapfish.

I also took some comparitive pictures during a Spring Walk.

I showed my SPARK

Accepting the Almanac

I can't tell you how much I've heard it since January: "the Almanac says" "the Almanac says" ... apparently the Almanac says we would get a good snow On the 20th of February. Does the 19th count?

Last year was my first year teaching. I teach way down in the mountains of Southwest Virginia. We missed 17 days of school last year due to snow. It wasn't as awesome as it sounds because I personally get bored with too many days off. Fortunately I have my wonderful Food Lion job as well, so on my days off from school I sometimes just went in to work at the deli. (I live 40 minutes north of where I teach so while they had snow days in the mountains, my town was perfectly fine.)


This year, however, we have had one. Boy is everyone feeling it - the germs don't leave the building and January was a very long month. And still, everyone keeps saying, "the Almanac says we are getting a big snow storm between the 20th and 23rd of February." Well, today is the 19th and we are covered. 

Looking onto Lane Stadium, picture from Virginia Tech Athletics  

Originally it was supposed to start early this morning, but it didn't. I got to work around 10 and it was snowing/raining on and off but nothing much was happening. Then it picked up and died off throughout the day. It started sticking in the grass around 12 or so and started to quickly accumulate. At almost exactly 4 o'clock (that's when I left), it started sticking on the roads. During my 15 minute drive home, about an inch and a half built up on the roads and I slipped and slid up the hills that lead to my house. Oh, so much fun! I love to just slip around like that and often do it on purpose. Reminds me of the old days as a kid when we would go out "sliding in the black truck." Within the hour, we became covered. A tree behind our house started to come down - so hopefully it stays outside our house! It looks like this from my back porch, and
you can see the tree on the left on an obvious angle:

I just love the snow. I think it's so magical. When my store manager told me it was really coming down, I couldn't help but to just go stand outside for a few seconds. It makes my heart smile as the world is clean and bright. It was flurrying last weekend and I created the line "Just like the tiny snowflakes that fall around us, it is the small, intricate details that make you so special." I feel like I should turn that into a speech or poem or something. I don't know what it is about the snow, but it really puts me in that kind of a mood. How do you feel about the snow? Do you hate it because it's cold and you can't go run errands or are you happy to enjoy time inside, curling up on the couch (maybe with a fire? some hot cocoa? a loved one?) and being forced to slow down a little bit?

Also, does this count as the almanac being right?