On the Scene

Recognizing her scientific duty, Fio took extensive notes during Tuesday's snowfall. After all, there might never be another.

About 7:00 a.m., she heard an insistent pinging and discovered that little ice granules were attacking her roof and windows. They were too solid to be sleet, too small to be hail, and too hard to be snowflakes so she labeled the whole phenomenon an ice storm.

By 8:00, big, fat white snowflakes were falling like dandruff. They looked fake, similar to the soapflakes Hollywood uses in every Christmas movie you've ever seen, but Fio was afraid to look away for fear the miracle would cease.

Wendy Dog wasn't too anxious to go out and neither was Fio, but your correspondent did want to see everything. From window to window she rushed, trying for the best view. The east side of the yard was a little sparse still, but the west side of the yard was covered in white except for the gravel drive winding through it.

Soon huge flakes began to fall, floating down like chicken feathers. Noticing that the tops of trees were dusted with white, Fio ran upstairs to check the views from there--snow an inch thick on the metal roof, two inches thick on the northside window ledges. From Husband's study, she had a spectacular view of the snow-covered woods.

Then the flakes became smaller and the fall less dense, finally turning back into ice again.

By 9:00, Fio thought everything was over, but when she sat down at the piano and played several Christmas carols, the snow started up again--ten more minutes of it. Obviously music turned the tide.

By 10:30, she opened herself to the possibility the snow was going to keep coming. The ground was covered now, and most of the driveway. Now Fio became concerned about Husband getting home from work in the late afternoon--she doubted there were many snowplows available in central Texas.

This whole time, Fio was dashing around like the madwoman she is, calling Husband to report every flake, contacting daughter in Austin, even calling Friend Marion, who knows snow because she's from Nova Scotia.

By 12:00, the sky, yard, and trees were all blanketed in white. Husband came home soon thereafter, and Daughter phoned that her employer was also releasing everyone early. Husband being Husband, he immediately bundled Fio up in a warm jacket and had her walk the driveway with him and Wendy Dog. Fio being Fio, she burst into "Walkin' in the Winter Wonderland" as they surveyed their snowclad kingdom. Wendy being Wendy, celebrated by getting loose and romping through the woods until being lured home by promise of a treat.

The snow fell intermittently through the day and evening, probably three inches in all, although four inches piled up on the north-facing window ledges. It was glorious.

Fio anticipated rising the next day to a soggy but snowless nature; however, while the trees were bare, the ground snow was still in place, frozen overnight into a diamond crust which glittered in the bright dawn.
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Oh, ecstasy! Thursday morning and patches of snow linger still in the shadows on the north side of the house!

God is good.