snow days

The blizzard of 2008 has continued on longer than even I could have reasonably hoped for. I was stuck going to the office everyday for most of it. It was like nothing out of the ordinary was happening outside. Be in your chair at 8, or else watch your vacation time tick away. I did a lot of staring out the window and marveling.

Once I finally got out of the office and the stress was gone about getting to work without the bus running, I really started to enjoy myself. I snowshoed down to Lake Washington and said hello to all the other people snowshoeing and skiing around. I scoped out the best sledding options and returned with my saucer to Yesler Way between 30th and 31st. I joined the neighborhood kids who had already compacted a great surface for sliding. I stepped things up a notch by building a sweet jump partway down the hill with a high school girl. My tailbone still hurts a little.

Christmas eve, Mark and I built a seven foot tall snowman. Then we built a locomotive with a coal car for my nephews to sit in. Show sculpting skills come right back, even when it's been a long time since you used them. There aren't really any other opportunities like snow for art. A free, lightweight, sticky substance falls from the sky in great quantity for you to make what you please with it. Then it melts away on it's own and you don't have to clean up or store anything. Incredible.

Christmas day, we watched The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, so it seemed reasonable to make the Death Star with the 4 new inches of snow we received that morning. Stephen, Heidi and I rolled a 4' diameter snowball, then added some detailing.

I really enjoy the snow. And I've never seen so much of it for so long at my home. I fear for my perennials in the garden and I feared to drive my car (although she has performed flawlessly each time I have taken her out - incredible piece of machinery). Overall though, I like the disruption snow has on our lives. A forced sabbath. An automatic adventure. It's like taking a trip somewhere new, not knowing what is going to happen the next day. I like the feeling, even if it means canceled parties and dented fenders. If only work got canceled like school used to.