“They flit, they float, they fleetly flee, they fly!”

Snow fell in the Lower Mainland today. Last night, the weatherman’s predictions in mind , I went to the window to watch for signs of wintertime. I could just barely make out the scent of coming snow, mingled with wafts of our neighbours’ marijuana. We awoke this morning to a light dusting, but as the day progressed more snow fell until the grass was barely visible.

No other place on earth wears snow so well as BC, I think. The darkness and varying texture of the trees make the perfect backdrop for a soft white blanket. The jagged planes of the usually foreboding mountain peaks are rendered less ominous - even friendly - by snow. Maybe it’s just because winter is so dark here that anything light and bright lifts the general dispiritedness of BC winter. No wonder summer is so looked-forward to here.

The problem is, of course, that it doesn’t last. Snow is just H2O in solid state, and in BC water always reverts to it’s liquid form as quickly as possible. Most of the snow that fell today - already clumped together - melted as soon as it hit the ground. I hope those flakes had a lovely ride through the air as they flew to the earth. I wonder how many snowflakes a molecule of water participates in in one winter.

But I will try not to think about the brevity (and sometimes non-existence) of proper winter here. Instead, I will look forward to skiing jaunts in winter wonderlands, and to crocuses in January.