Snow Had Fallen, Snow on Snow*

   I readily admit it:  I'm a bit of a weather wimp. I live in a very moderate climate and I like it that way. I had to ask a friend in New York once just what was this "heat index" everyone on the news was talking about. Answer: Nothing I want to live with.
   But, contrary to a common misconception, there is plenty of weather in California. Here is some photographic proof. A couple winters ago, I woke up at my parents' house and found a good blanket of snow covering the backyard and more coming down. Because I no longer live where it snows, this was exciting. And, like an ill-prepared tourist, I put on some running shoes and grabbed my camera to try and capture the fat, fluffy flakes and the bare trees and the snow-covered train in the background.
   I forgot about the dog. The dog who loves nothing more than to run around in the snow, snapping at the flakes in the air. The dog who totally photo-bombed my attempt to make a lovely scenic picture.

   I suppose I can't blame her completely for the less-than-scenic results. It had been so long since I'd been in the snow, I forgot that those fat snowflakes can hold a lot of water. Within minutes of going outside, I was soaked. What looked like fluffy cotton balls that floated to the ground felt like being pelted with wads of wet paper.

    In the end, I got four shots that didn't have a big drop of water on the lens. All of those shots included the dog. We packed it in for the day and enjoyed the great indoors until the weather improved.

*  This is from the poem In the Bleak Midwinter, by Christina Rosetti (1872). This is also the title of the book I just finished by Julia Spencer-Fleming, which I highly recommend. 

"In the bleak midwinter
Frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron,
Water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow,
Snow on snow,
In the bleak midwinter,
Long ago."