Snow Day!

Hello, fellow hubbers! Welcome to Day #10 of my 30 Hubs in 30 Days Challenge. I'm in the double digits-- woo hoo!

I had a completely different hub planned for today. It was something thought provoking and heart warming. I had tons of notes that intended to transform into an article this morning before work.

However, about an hour after I went to bed last night, I woke up to hear my room mate exclaiming, "Oh, wow! Holy Camoly!"

Could you ignore hearing someone shout something like that? Me neither. So, I crawled out of bed, shoved my feet into my slippers, and went downstairs to see what the commotion was all about.

It was snowing. Now, I realize that some one you are probably reading this and going, "so what? It's March. Snow in March isn't unusual." Well, it is if you live on the Oregon coast. It's even more unusual for us to get several inches of the white, fluffy stuff.

There was so much snow that even though the clock said it was a little before midnight, it looked like it was early morning outside. The combination of the white fluffy clouds, the falling snow, and the accumulated snow on the ground made it looked really light outside-- which was in stark contrast to the pitch black when my room mate arrived home from work two hours before.

After admiring the falling snow for a few minutes, I went back to bed. I'm a borderline insomniac, so sleep is very important to me. Besides, I had extra blankets on my bed and several snuggling, sleeping cats-- what more did I need to stay warm on a cold late winter night?

Well, my room mate took the opposite approach. She was like a little kid peaking out the windows every so often, snapping photographs, and up most of the night. I got the full play by play when I woke up in the morning. It snowed heavy until well after midnight and then it was off and on after that. The accumulated snow must've knocked down some tree branches (which it turn pulled down some power lines) because the power went out for well over an hour somewhere in the middle of the night.

My first view of the snow this morning was the several inches that covered the sky light in my room. For a moment there I thought we might have to dig ourselves out. (Just teasing).

When I looked out another window, I had a great view of my neighborhood. There are a few kids living in the rental across the street. If you look closely at the second photograph you can see that they had fun tossing two basketballs up on their roof this morning. The snow is keeping them from falling down.

Once I was bundled in a thick pair of boots and a jacket, I stepped outside on my porch to snap a few photographs of the snow. This is my sixth winter in this house, but I've never seen this much snow in my yard before! It was seriously cold out so I opted to remain on the front and back porches rather than walk through the cold snow!

Once I returned inside, I sat down in front of my computer with a hot cup of tea. The local newspaper posted an article online about the snow storm. I was curious about the weather since I do have to work later today. The problem with living in an area that doesn't usually receive snow is that when it does, people don't know how to drive in snowy conditions. As expected, the newspaper reported several accidents. They also claimed that this may be the most snow that our area has received since 1969!

"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."

~~ excerpt from "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" by Robert Frost

The snowy weather tends to make me introspective. It brings back lots of fond memories of crossing my fingers and wishing for snow as a kid. "Snow days" were such a rare treat. Not only did we get an extra day off from school but we also got to play in the snow until I hands and feet went numb before traipsing back inside to make cups of hot cocoa. does it get any better than that?

My family moved around a lot when I was a kid. We spent a few years in Connecticut, a state that gets a lot of snow. I have not-so-fun memories of going sledding with my older brother. He always insisted on "driving" but he was much better at crashing into things. Ugly purple bruises were sure to follow each of our sledding adventures. We also spent a few years in Arizona where, unless you lived on top of a mountain, snow was rare. I remember getting really excited over a whole whopping quarter inch of snow dusting the ground. No doubt it'd be gone by mid-morning and we'd be back to wearing shorts and t-shirts by afternoon.

Snowy weather also makes me think about story telling and literature. The first one to come to mind is that classic "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" by C. S. Lewis. Walking through the snow and hearing it crunch beneath my boots makes me think of the beginning of the book. When the kids first step through the wardrobe into the world of Narnia it is perpetually winter. It's not until the evil witch begins to lose her grip on the land that it slowly begins to melt.

Walking around in a winter wonderland has always seemed so magical to me. As a child, the snow would help spur my imagination and makes it easy to imagine being able to step through a magic portal into another land. The snow made the magical seem possible. In fact, it still does. It would be so easy to curl up with my keyboard or a notebook and lose myself in a story of my own creation on a day like today.

The second piece of literature that comes to mind as I look out upon my snow covered neighborhood is the poem "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" by Robert Frost. I'm not sure if it's the reference to snow or the name Frost, but the last few hauntingly beautiful lines of the poem come to mind.

And, just like the narrator of the poem, it's time for me to go get ready for work. I too have "miles to go before I sleep."