Snow Days

The first fall of snow is not only an event, it is a magical event.  You go to bed in one kind of a world and wake up in another quite different, and if this is not enchantment then where is it to be found?  ~J.B. Priestley

Remember when we were younger and we could not wait for snow days? Waking up in the morning, seeing all the white on the ground and the white that continued to fall in thick, heavy flakes, and praying to G-d that at some point in the next hour, you would hear the beautiful words, "School is canceled today" And when you finally heard the news, you would heave a huge sigh of relief. No school, playing outside in the snow for hours on end, watching tv during the day, and hot cocoa with marshmallows. Was there a better way to spend the day? 

I remember those days, maybe not all that well, but I still remember them. Where I live though, we rarely get snow days. We are the Midwest, we know how to handle snow (unlike some other states and cities that cancel everything when they get an inch of snow). Heck, it is normal for us to be covered in inches of snow throughout winter. Nowadays though, I no longer pray for snow days; I pray for days without snow, or at least a minimal amount. 

Yet, despite my hatred of snow (and slush and ice), I absolutely love the first snowfall of winter. The first time the snow falls, I just stand by the window and look outside, taking it in and wondering at the beauty of it. There is just something so beautiful about it, and not just when it falls, but when it covers everything and I look outside and it is all white. There is just something so beautiful, so magical about it. 

A week later though, I am ready for spring and some warm weather.

Listen to the Rain

As I was listening to the rain outside my bedroom window tonight, I thought of this poem. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Listen to the Rain

Listen to the rain,
the whisper of the rain,
the slow soft sprinkle,
the drip-drop tinkle,
the first wet whisper of the rain.

Listen to the rain,
the singing of the rain,
the tiptoe pitter-patter,
the splish and splash and splatter,
the steady sound of the rain.

Listen to the rain,
the roaring pouring rain,
the hurly-burly topsy-turvy
lashing gnashing teeth of rain,
the lightning-flashing
thunder-crashing
sounding pounding roaring rain,
leaving all outdoors a muddle,
a mishy mushy muddle puddle.

Listen to the quietude,
the silence and the solitude of after-rain,
the dripping, dripping, dropping,
the slowly, slowly stopping,
the fresh wet silent after-time of rain.

~Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault