I am late today. I slept through the morning, on the couch again. If I had a roommate, the mirror under the nose would be have been in order to make sure I’m still alive. Nala slept with me. Henry went out and stayed a while. He was at the back door whining for me to let him in. We’re still stuck in the cold at 32°. Tonight we’ll get done to the 20’s.

When I was a kid, my least favorite season was winter. Christmas was over, and February vacation was a long January away. We had no days off from school in January. Most of our days looked the same. We’d play outside if we couldI remember doing homework on the kitchen table before dinner but after we’d played outside if we could . The snow on the road, on the hill, got slushy from the cars so we couldn’t go sledding on it anymore. We’d sled on the grassy hill behind my house. It wasn’t very tall, and you never went far, but the sled picked up speed right from the top of the hill.

Going fast on a sled is one of the joys of being a kid. The technique was widely known. We all used it. I’d run and jump so most of me was on the sled, only the bottoms of my legs were raised in the air. The key was the run. I’d run as fast as I could and jump on the sled just about the same time the sled hit the ground. The runners cut through the snow. Bits of snow flew in the air along the runners. The best was the crunching sound of snow meeting runner. I never had to steer until the end of the hill where you had to dodge clothes lines and some hot top. The further you went, the greater your mastery.

Another winter technique most kids mastered is walking in heavy snow, 6 to 8 inches at least. Arms are bent at the elbow just above but not touching the top of the snow. One leg at a time gets lifted above the snow top then down a bit further ahead. Lifting legs is the hardest part. To go fast takes more energy and more effort but fast is relative to height. The snow behind me was more piled than flat, a weird path needing more walkers.

I think snow is beautiful, newly fallen and untouched. I turn my lights on to watch the flakes fall. My backyard gets dog prints. It is the after snow to which I am not a fan. My plow guy didn’t show last winter after our one storm needing a plow. Luckily a neighbor, I didn’t know, came and shoveled me out. That was so kind. I need a plow guy.

This entry was posted on January 17, 2025 at 2:18 pm and is filed under Musings. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. Both comments and pings are currently closed.