Another Snow Post...

The weather plays a starring role in many of my memories of teaching first grade; the children especially loved the fearful delight of a thunderstorm (they loved it even more if the electricity happened to fail, and would respond with enthusiastic screams of mostly feigned terror).  However their chief delight, weather-wise, was snow.

The weather became almost a character unto itself in The Children Are Tender, and the current state of our recent snowfalls from winter storms Q and Rocky remind me of this passage: 

Our January snow was briefly lovely but quickly disintegrated into a brown slush that did nothing to enhance the colorless landscape. The sun remained hidden behind sullen, low- hanging clouds that produced neither rain nor snow but only an intermittent, freezing drizzle. Bob was grouchily engaged in a losing battle to keep the outdoor walkways free of ice, and each morning he could be seen puffing furiously on his pipe as he scraped and salted the treacherous glaze that had formed overnight. (The Children Are Tender, p. 148)

However, in the country it is still possible to find expanses of snow that has not been touched either by the warmth of the sun or the county snowplow.   The pathway below is just across the road from our house and is steeper than it looks. 

From the bottom of the hill looking up...

Lydia, the lead character in The Children Are Tender, is often unable to resist a quick walk through the countryside near her home, even when she is on her way to work.  I think she would have tromped right up this hill in her new winter boots, just as I did!  

From the top of the hill looking down.

However, because of her youth, Lydia would have fared better than I managed to do--I was thoroughly winded after trudging up this hill in snow that was over a foot deep! 

This year's snows were pretty but I confess I'm ready for spring!