The snow started around 9 with small flakes. They are still falling but more quickly. I procrastinated the last couple of days so I had to go out this morning. I dreaded it, but the dogs needed food as did Jack. They better be thankful. What surprised me was how few a number of cars I saw. At the store where I usually shop, the parking lot was pretty much empty. Four registers were open but idle. I sailed through. I did reward myself with a scone and a Snickers. The dogs got their biscuits. They always do from this store. They circle me like vultures while I’m carrying the bags. They look like baby birds in the nest waiting to be fed. Their mouths are open anticipating their treats, their biscuits. It is not a pretty sight. The scone is gone.

I can’t remember when I was last delighted by so much anticipated snow. When I was a kid, to me, snow was about the best weather of all weathers. I loved that from the front picture window in the living room I could see my part of the street and parts of two other streets. The street light was on the corners of two streets. It lit the road and the sidewalk. The light was best in rain or snow. I remember watching heavy rain slanted sideways by the wind passing through the light. The snow sometimes glinted under the light. The heavy snow made everything look shadowed. That snow usually came sideways. The bigger flakes, not the biggest flakes, fell the longest and the most. The street light cover would get lost in the snow, even its heat was not strong enough to ward off the cold. When I went to bed, the snow was falling so thickly you couldn’t see too much. Some mornings it was still snowing. Some windows were covered in icy snow so you couldn’t see out. We used to open the storm door, pushing it through the snow, so we could an idea of how much snow fell. We waited for no school. We drove my mother crazy begging to go outside. By afternoon she was done in and we went outside and froze.

My father used a metal shovel to clear the snow from the steps down the sidewalk to the street. It was the same shovel he used to dig holes or move dirt. It wasn’t very big. My father always took a while, but he cleared the paths and the steps down so deeply you could see what had been under the snow. The rest was up to the plows. He had done his duty.

I’ll leave my backdoor light on tonight. I can keep an eye on the storm. The dogs too like to check out the snow from inside the house. It will be a quiet, cozy night.

Today is a dull, winter’s day with a muted sun, clouds and only a few spots of blue. It is in the mid-30’s. The deep Arctic front starts this evening when it will get down to single digits, think 7° as the high. Monday will be the warmest day, says I with tongue in cheek, at 37° with a nighttime high of 18°. I did mean high!

Snow is coming, not just cover the ground snow, but historic snow, enough snow for constant weather warnings and updates. It seems the exact amount of snow changes with the hour. It starts Sunday and will continue through Monday. The cape is predicted to get 6-12 inches but the snow could mix with rain here by the ocean. Boston wins the predicted amount of snow crown, 12-20 possible. I’ve been channel hopping, looking around hoping to find the weather site with the least amount of predicted snow. Maybe hoping will make it so. I can live deluded for one snow storm.

I can predict my future. I know for certain what the next few days will be for me. After today, I will stay home, warm and cozy. I’ll start a new book as I just finished the latest Robin Cook, a Christmas present. I’ll loll on the couch. I’ll eat bon bons and sip champagne. ( Make that last one a wish, the bon bons and champagne.)

My sister and brother-in-law Rod surprised me yesterday. They have been surprising me for a while. When I ran out of coffee, they sent me a large bag, 18 ounces large, of coffee. When my coffee maker developed a mind of its own as to whether or not it wanted to work, they sent me a new coffee maker. Yesterday was a package from Harry and David with chocolate, cheese and sausages. I’m calling that the start of my snow preparation kit.

My family and friends have taken care of me this winter. Thank you, all of you.

I am going to make a quick trip to the grocery store. I can think of no better way to spend my time than fighting crowds at the milk aisle. I need animal food, mostly dry dog food. I didn’t buy a big enough bag on Sunday. Jack, too, would like a bigger variety of canned food. He didn’t eat the prix fixe menu of fish he was offered the last couple of days. He ate the bowl of treats both days. Jack knows the way of the world.

When I was a kid, I would have been positively elated, even giddy, at the thought of this much snow. No question, Monday will be a snow day, and Tuesday too looks likely. My mother must have been beside herself.