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Suddenly Summer

Suddenly Summer

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We’ve gone from cool and rainy to humid and hot. Suddenly it is summer in Virginia. I don’t mind. I love heat and humidity. But the body struggles to adjust. 

Yesterday I walked in the late afternoon, and my feet were dragging. Today I left early, strolling through the last vestiges of pre-dawn coolness that were lingering in the shady spots of my route. 

Back home now I can feel the heat starting to bear down. But the dappled shade of deck and yard promise several hours of al fresco pleasure. 

Welcome Clouds

Welcome Clouds

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I never thought I’d say this but around here the occasional cloudy day comes as a gift: dark, sodden and lacking in expectations. 

I’ve never faulted the climate of northern Virginia. It’s hot in the summer and mild in the winter. Almost too mild these days, turning what was once distinctly four seasons into three-and-a-half. Springs and falls are long and lovely. 

But the steady drumbeat of sunshine can be too much. And this from a sun worshipper. A sunny day comes with its own set of expectations: errands to run, writing to complete before afternoon rays stream through the office windows right into my eyes. 

When do we stay inside and clean the closet? When do we wander lonely as a cloud? Those are questions I ask myself often … but not today. 

A Prediction

A Prediction

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So we have finally come to the end of January, the longest month. I’m convinced it has at least 40 days. No wait, that’s Lent, and it will be arriving soon enough. 

But today we’re in the clear. It’s February 2, and the groundhog has predicted an early spring. Based on the blooming snowdrops and hellebores, on the inch-long daffodil shoots in the front yard and the faint fuzz of bloom on the witch hazel tree in back, I’d say the groundhog’s prediction may be true. 

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, though, the rodent has been right only 40 percent of the time. So I won’t pack away the hats, gloves and wool sweaters just yet. I won’t wish him wrong, either.

Woods in White

Woods in White

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The main roads were plowed by Saturday, but wind chill kept me inside. By yesterday, though, temps edged up to the high 30s, and I was itching to leave the house. Would the Reston trails be clear? 

Some were, and those that weren’t I avoided, snapping a photo instead. 

I trod paths I haven’t walked in a while, passed the “laughing tree,” which now sports a white mustache. 

There was a thin layer of frosting on bowed limbs, like a squiggle of toothpaste on a toothbrush. 

I hiked for more than an hour. I was not alone. 

Soon to be Gone

Soon to be Gone

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The snow is falling as I write. It’s piling up on the deck, weighing down the potted ivy, filling in the footsteps, smothering the covered chaise. After having no snow for 24 months, two storms in a week have dumped more than a half a foot here. 

As mentioned earlier, I’m not a skier or a snow-shoer, and I tiptoe around ice. But I love to watch the white stuff coming down, to marvel at the way it clings to every branch and twig. I like the way it banishes the wanness of winter, the contrast it provides. 

As it grows lighter here, ghost trees emerge from the backyard: spindly white arms, tall dark trunks. Small birds clog the feeder, land lightly on a snow bank, fluff the flakes with their little tails.

Soon I’ll celebrate the 14th anniversary of this blog, which was conceived in snow, made possible by the week off work that snow provided. Snow was my first topic. Strange since we have so little of it anymore. Another way in which these pages celebrate not only the here-and-now but also the soon-to-be-gone.

No Nonsense

No Nonsense

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When I woke a little after 7, the sun had not yet begun to strike the sides of the big oaks I can see across the road. But it was light enough to assure me not all the snow had blown off trunks, limbs and branches. 

Traces of high contrast are still there, the symphony, synchrony, of black and white. The only color I see in my window-scape is the barest touch of dark green from the hollies at the fence line. But I’ll soon find more in the Great Outdoors, having somewhere to be in less than an hour. 

“Take winter as you find him,” wrote James Russell Lowell, “and he turns out to be a thoroughly honest fellow with no nonsense in him. And tolerating none in you, which is a great comfort in the long run.”

We’ll see about that. 

Finally!

Finally!

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We woke up to five inches of the white stuff, a steady snowfall that has transformed the entire region. Often we’re poised right at the snow-rain line, or the snow-ice line, a result of our particular geography and topography — some parts of the region near the coast, others near the mountains. 

It’s been a while since we’ve had this much snow, and with temperatures in the 20s and 30s, it may even hang around more than a few hours. Right now I’m looking out my office window as the bamboo slowly loses its burden and pops back into place, freeing up more views of the yard beyond. 

I’m not a big sledder or outdoor winter sports enthusiast, just a snow appreciator. I like how white winter weather turns humdrum landscapes into other worlds. 

Puddle Jumper

Puddle Jumper

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Last night’s deluge tapered off by morning, leaving plenty of puddles in its wake. They presented a small challenge to the early-morning ambler. 

Despite the burbling, hard-working storm drains and runoff ditches, water was still pooled on walkways and streets.

Some puddles were best navigated by stepping around them, partly on tufted islands in the saturated grass and partly on the slightly raised edge of the macadam path. 

Other puddles were small enough for me to jump. Luckily, there weren’t too many of those. 

Slow Snow Going

Slow Snow Going

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It’s not that I want a blizzard, nothing as extreme as that. But a few inches on the grass, enough for the neighbor kids to build a snowman — that would be nice. 

There was a flurry of snow talk earlier in the week, safely couched in disclaimers: It could be rain, or snow, or sleet … 

But the latest forecast for tomorrow sounds more definitive: It will start as snow and turn to rain. If we lived an hour west in the mountains it would be a different story. But here, in the suburbs, we won’t have the white stuff for long. 

It’s early in the season, though. There’s still time.

(The woods in snow five years ago.)

Surprise Snow

Surprise Snow

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Sometimes it pays to forgo weather reports, especially when it means you can wake up to a surprise snowfall like we did this morning. Although from what I can make out, even some forecasts weren’t expecting yesterday’s rain to turn to snow in the wee hours of the morning. 

But there it was, glimpsed first at 4 a.m., when I woke up briefly, and now certified in the clear light of day.

It’s the most snow we’ve had in two years, and I doubt it will last long, but for now, it’s coating branches and grass and making the world outside look just a bit like a snow globe … finally.