January 19, 2023 — Steph and I woke up to her phone with a robocall message calling out a snow day. It was 5:30 am, and she quietly went into both Colebrook’s and Hawthorn’s rooms and turned their 7:15 alarms off. She snuggled back into bed and the whole house slept while heavy moist snow returned winter to the north.
I woke at eight to the murmur of kitchen noises and to the faint smell of pot roast searing. I dressed and found the fire going, music playing, the tea pot stewing, and our Christmas tree lights happily on. The snow was falling hard and seemed to surround us in white lace. Steph suggested our snow day night of family activities, which I eagerly agreed to thinking about how nice it will be to have some snowy white normalcy to our patchy winter.
We’ve been doing our best to ski and skate and go about our winter, but it’s been different with the mild temperatures. Last night, I made turns at Crystal Mountain on new telemark skis made for chair lifts and man-made snow. I bought them impulsively in response to the lack of snow in the woods, and I had a terrific night of skiing in near solitude on the back ridge while Hawthorn raced gates.
Our winters are changing and it takes some adapting. And also it takes Steph’s attitude of embracing those cozy winter wonderland moments when we can.
