Reflections On Snow

As cold as it's been in Salt Lake, there is a certain amount of beauty that truly comes from it being a Winter Wonderland.  I find myself staring at the sparkle in the white snow that sits on top of our lawn.  I am lost looking at all the frosted branches outlined in freshly dropped snow or the snow capped mountains, with all its wonderful textures illuminated against the sunset.  Or the illumination of the white Christmas lights against the icicles underneath the fluffy snow on the rooftops.  And the other day, someone told my son to stare at the snowflakes he caught from the falling snow, and it was me who was enthralled by the wonder of design caught in these little specks they call snow.  Sometimes, I can be seen staring at the snowflakes caught in between my dual paned windows frozen in all its beauty and glory.  It's truly been quite captivating thus far.

But then I have all these questions.  Like how do people have funerals in the snow?  Or fix their roofs in the snow?  Or do construction in the snow?  Or what happens to the fish in ponds in people's backyards?  Or can an icicle kill you?  Or how many calories am I burning when I shovel the ordinance mandated sidewalks (thank goodness for our heated driveway)?  Or how does a snow blower work and when can I get one and how much will it cost me?  Sometimes I'm afraid to ask these questions outloud to the other Native Utahans (?) for the fear of how silly I'll sound.  How naive and unacquainted with the snow I have been thus far in my adult life, eh?

I like the snow here better than in Spokane, because here (so far), the sun comes out a long and it doesn't feel as gloomy.  The roads are also cleared a lot faster, even for us up in the mountains.  Here, the snow is plentiful and sparkles instead of laying dormant and blackened on the road (I'm sure it will be like that eventually).  Spokane was nice in the sense that there never was much snow, but I'm told that's just the overall weather this year - cold everywhere, even Sunny southern California where my brother shivered as he told me it was 40 degrees (how quickly he reverts to his California skin even after years in New York's bitter cold).