Snow...

We are all abuzz here at the feet of the Blue Ridge...snow is in the forecast for tomorrow.

Snow is a rarity...I think I can count on one hand the number of times I can remember real snow when I've been here.

We usually just get those pesky and dangerous ice storms that bring down power lines and rupture water mains and wreck havoc throughout the land.

Snow, real snow would be wonderful.

I love the quiet, the starkness, the void, lack of shadows...purity for a fleeting moment.

When I headed off to Boulder to attend the University of Colorado I was so excited about the snow. I was ill-attired as I recall. I had wool coats and gloves and some jaunty little hats. The problem with wool is that it gets wet and soggy.

Right after that first snow in Boulder it was off to the mall to get properly winterized. Much to my new friends horror I opted for a bright orange fake-down jacket from Montgomery Ward. I was teased unmercifully about that jacket. I had no idea that it was intended for hunters. I can remember sitting in one of those huge lecture classes. It was astrogeophysics 112 and I was in the nose bleed section of the lecture hall sitting with a fellow southener, a sweet boy from North Carolina. The TA way down on the floor in front of the lectern even made some remark about the orange jacket on row whatever.

I loved that jacket, and became somewhat of a celebrity for it. But, when returning home for Christmas, I gave in and bought a real down jacket in the same blue as every other person in Boulder. Believe it or not, I still have that blue jacket. The orange one was passed around and I imagine it ended up being barn wear or stable wear years ago.

The school superintendents have already called for early release of students for tomorrow. I called Faye's day care and said she would not be attending tomorrow, it will just be easier for us to keep her home. They are supposed to follow the county school schedule, but the volunteer I talked to when I called to cancel Faye said they didn't follow the schedule for early-release. Duh? I wonder if she had talked to the director? Faye is able and mobile, but all those little old ladies and men that attend the day care are fragile, and 99 percent of them have dementia and Alzheimers. It would make sense to close or follow the early release. Keeping Faye home means one less person they will have to wrangle.

I imagine the hunt for snow day supplies is starting to heat up. The requisite bread and milk are what the masses will be in search of. Here, it will be cheese, sourdough bread, Merlot, and pop corn.