2nd Grade Snowman Painting c. 1990

If I stand in just the right spot, I can have one foot (the east one) in five inches of snowdrift and the other one in very wet, very green grass.  The warming trend or the wind or the winter blahs (let’s hope not) must be moving in from the west.  But it seems to be taking its time to completely change the color of our Christmastime Oysterville Snowscape.

My feelings are as conflicted as the landscape.  I loved looking out at the world of white.  I didn’t even mind that it wasn’t the sort of snow that we could turn into a snowman or clump together for a righteous snowball fight.  At least that’s what our guest Randal said…  Of course, it would have been his boys at the center of the action and maybe they just didn’t want to go there.

On the other hand, it was truly slippy-slidey walking out to the chickens, especially by days four and five when former footprints had compacted to ice and had been covered over with a layer of innocent looking snow.  I worried about Charlie heading home on Monday and I just let the mail sit at the Post Office until yesterday.  I had no desire to drive, even though I was told “the roads are pretty good.”  Pretty good but not great I found when I finally ventured out.  The corner at Territory and Ocean Beach Roads was a slushy, icy mess.  I could almost hear the ditches on either side say, “Come on in!  The icy water’s fine!”

All in all, though, it was a picture-perfect Christmas!  Even though I held my breath until Charlie’s “I’m home!” call last night, I’m glad the snow came when it did and stayed around to make the holiday season even more magical than usual.  And now… we are girding up our loins (as they say) for 2022 with firm resolve: “We can do it!”