Snow Day

Photo taken December 27, 2027

I baked bread today, 

the aroma of home 

gentle in the air. 

Outside snow was flying. 

Not a soft silent drift but 

busily covering 

  cars, 

   houses, 

     fences, 

       sidewalks, 

  all the remnants of autumn. 

Dressing myself in 

  toque, 

   down jacket 

      and mitts, 

with my much smaller shovel

 I stepped out into the swirling snow. 

~ the soft light kind. 

Brushing my hand on the railing, 

 fine flakes flew away on 

    mischievous wind currents. 

The silence of this snow day, 

  despite the wind, 

    brought me a sweet memory: 

the bite of cold on nose and cheeks 

  took me to the skating rink. 

Thoughts of making a snow man flew away

  because the snow was too dry to 

     pack into the right shape. 

(and I had no carrot or twig for a nose!)

“A snow day literally and figuratively falls from the sky, 

unbidden, and seems like a thing of wonder.”

~ Susan Orlean, journalist and author

Author’s note: Snow this year has been very limited so far.