The first snow

We woke up this morning to what could be called a dusting of snow, if one wanted to be generous. Just enough that a snow brush, if I had one in the car, might be useful. But I don't, and I have no idea where it lives, and M is out of town so the kids and I will just sweep our mittens across the windows and call it a day.

A's face is currently pressed up against the windows and she is gazing out at the snow in the backyard, very insistent that there is enough there to make a snow man. I have tried to dissuade her from that idea, but I have a feeling that the instant C is up and coherent we will be pulling on snow pants and boots. She probably doesn't remember the snow very well from last year, although she might. You never quite know with A. But right now, it seems magical and wonderful to her.

I'm generally very pro-snow. I love to look out at the yard, the trees and bushes have such a regal yet gentle look when laden with white fluff. But this year I find myself hoping that it doesn't snow, as if it does we have a real snow removal issue as we will have to shovel out two houses.

At the old house, we had three walkways, a circular drive and a long shared drive back to the detached garage that all had to be shoveled, by hand, because it was gravel. Here there is only one short walkway and a much shorter drive to deal with when it snows. As an added bonus, there are teenage boys on either side of us and across the street, so there is some hope that one of them might be dispatched to our place to shovel if we ever get more than a dusting, especially if M is out of town, which he always is when it snows. So once the other house is someone else's problem, it can snow all it wants.

At the old house I could sit on the sun porch sipping my coffee and imagine that we were alone with the snow. The new yard is not quite as peaceful looking as the old one, however, as we can see the houses behind us clearly and the deck ruins the view in some respects. I am also fairly confident that our new neighborhood is going to be gregarious on snow days, which, while fun for the kids, means that I will spend snow days traipsing around instead of enjoying the enforced solitude.