minne-snow-ta

today, we woke up to this...

and this...

and this...

and despite the collective groan heard 'round the state as the Lord added 8 more inches of powder to the mountains we already had, i was a happy girl

true, i'm so far behind with my students at school that it's likely i'll need an airplane to get caught up

true, i'm not looking forward to being in school until mid-June

true, i wish i could gain some momentum with this group of students

this start.stop, start.stop just isn't ideal for learning!

but beauty is in the eye of the beholder, right?

this fall i had a foreign exchange student from guatemala

on his first day in my class he told me he had never seen snow

never

as in...not ever

he asked me to describe it

hmmm.....i was stumped

how can something that we have such an abundance of...something i am utterly TOO familiar with...be so hard for me to describe?

but try describing a snowflake and you'll see...it's not easy

try describing how tiny, delicate glitter falling from heaven piles into mountains strong enough to stop traffic

try describing the sparkles that covered my backyard this morning

try to paint a picture of how it clothes the trees and rooftops

try describing how it gets caught in your eyelashes and makes your hair stick to your face

try finding words for how it tastes...how it feels...how it sounds in the midst of a blizzard

try to explain how sometimes it crumbles in your hands but other times it sticks so fast you can create forts and people and have fights while packing it into the shape of a ball

try to define the way the wind sculpts it into drifts that even the most accomplished artist couldn't and then suddenly vanishes into thin air when warm winds creep our way

you can't do it.  i promise.

a snowflake is a mystery.

and although i'm sure that in a few days when we're back to below zero temps, i'll be wishing i lived in guatemala....

today i am oh so grateful that my snowbabies know all about the sparkly magic of this place

if you're in the market for a cupcake, you can get one at her cafe for only seventy eight dollars ;)

i know i'm in a tiny minority right now...

but i'm going out on a limb and saying that despite treacherous roads and nasty forecasts, i'm happy that i get to be right here, right now in the middle of piles and piles of this mysterious stuff that not everyone in the world gets to enjoy.

happy snow day!