Pristine Again

 

12/30/21 Maple Leaf neighborhood

What most people from other regions don’t understand is that snow in these parts is different from snow where they get more of it, so they are equipped to live with it. Here, many streets don’t get plowed until several days after the snowfall, if at all. Schools and businesses shut down, and even basic services like trash pickup and mail delivery get delayed.

On the fourth day after the season’s first snowfall, we got a few inches of fresh snow on top of the old. The snow wasn’t nearly as heavy as 2019’s snowmageddon or even last February’s unusual foot, but somehow it felt more tiresome. I woke on Thursday morning feeling ambivalent: More snow – bah, humbug! Yet everything looked beautifully pristine again.

I consoled myself with the sketch above from an upstairs window. The neighbor across the street apparently hadn’t gotten the memo that trash pickup would be delayed one or more days. His overflowing bin was my main interest point in this composition, so I blocked it in early. Good thing, because shortly after I did, he came out, brushed off the snow, and rolled the bin back into the garage.

The next morning, the snow was already getting messy. The bedroom’s side window looks out at mostly rooftops, our neighbor’s porch, and the other neighbor’s fenced yard (below). Suddenly the sky cleared, making the snow on the rooftops sparkle (which, unfortunately, I couldn’t capture). 

12/31/21