Snow!

Sunday, January 10, 2021

            Snow!  Outside, big flakes of wet snow still falling.  At any other time I would be delighted by true winter weather.  Snow in Austin is cause for celebration and I am winter-deprived.  But now I am just cold, sitting on the couch smothered in blankets.  The power went out around 1:30 p.m. affecting half the neighborhood.  Usually these outages don’t last long, but this one is lingering, threatening to continue to sunset.  

            I use the last of the day’s light to read.  Fortunately, we have the gas grill and a little propane backpack stove to cook on.  We took a long hike as the snow fell, layering streets with two inches, crunching under our boots.  Our neighbors rejoiced at the sudden holiday; children built snowmen, dogs ran circles kicking up frozen white clouds.  Deer posed, staring in awe at this new phenomena; fawns and yearlings who have never experienced snow before.

            The snow falls all day; the temperature never rises above 34º.  Tim pulls the water pump out of the pond, fearing it will freeze.  We throw more wood on in the fireplace, light candles, pile on more blankets.  We read on our Kindles and iPads, trying not to think about the cold, Daisy huddled under blankets between us.  Surely light and heat will return in another hour.  But it doesn’t.  Not until 7 a.m. the next morning. 

– Christine Baleshta