I feel that there are two camps when it comes to snow – you either get wildly excited or find it disruptive, cold and generally annoying. Can you guess which camp I’m in? I have actually been asking Alexa every day “will we have snow this week” all winter. For the most part, Alexa has been kind of bluntly stating no, there have been occasions when the percentage has got up to around 30 and I anxiously waited, and nothing happened.
This weekend, with the Beast from the East, it finally happened, Alexa reported a 66% chance of snow, but only around 2cms of snow. To be honest, after seeing nearly everywhere else in the country getting snow already this winter season I was desperate for a white blanket on the ground to make everything so much prettier than it is.
Sunday came, I got all excited, opened the curtains and it was a tiny dusting of snow, which actually looked more like frost. I quickly closed the curtains and went back to bed – my planned snow day was off. There may have been a little sulking, that was until I realised how calming it was watching the tiny snowflakes fall without a sound. It was just sad that the wet weather just kept it from settling.
I just chalked it down to Alexa being optimistic and telling me what I wanted to hear, but of course, I asked her again, and she promised me a 46% chance of snow on Monday. The odds were against me – but look at the beauty of a couple of cms across our garden. Granted not as much as we had three years ago, but I will take it.
Are you a fan of snow?
For me, there is a quietness and calm about snow. I love how magical the flurries of snowflakes look as they fall to the ground, the way the blanket of white amplifies the sounds of the birds, and how the soft crunch underfoot gets me giddy every time.
I love how snow coats the trees in stripes, to create abstract patterns, and the way the powdery flakes sprinkle down from the top with every breeze. I don’t know about you, but there is a real serenity, and weeks into this current lockdown – it was a much-needed escape from reality, if only for a day.
Yes, it is disruptive and cold, but if you don’t have anywhere to be, and you can just enjoy it, snow days really are the best. I love getting wrapped up warm, digging out my snow boots that I seem to only wear every three years, finding the thickest gloves and then heading out into the wild armed with my camera to capture the snow.
There is something special about document your surroundings and I love doing the house and garden every season, but when it snows everything just looks so much more beautiful. Maybe it is the stillness, the brightness of the white blanket, or maybe that it doesn’t look like this every day. I just know that I adore it and it makes me smile.
There is such beauty in nature that shines through when it is wintery, from the way the snowdrops keep on looking elegant, framing their dainty hanging flowers just above the snow to the way the birds nip through the snowy branches onto the bird feeder.
