URBAN HUSH

Peace, be still...

There is something wonderfully soothing about the snow. Its nature's tranquilizer, bestowing upon the environment a soothing calm. And in the times we live in, occasionally we need that meteorological shot in the arm. When everything is go! go!! go!!! Active! Active! Active! Do! Do! Do! Snow (in copious amounts at least) forces us to "chill," literally and figuratively. I forgot that just being was as worthwhile an endeavor as being all "i could be. "Newtonian mechanics in the form of hexagonal crystals. Whodathunk?

I can't lie though, a cold blast of "serenity now!" doesn't mean i suddenly like snow. I was not a happy camper upon hearing the news that a new storm was on the horizon. Winter can't be over fast enough at this point. I stopped enjoying snowfalls when i got my first job, which was, oddly enough - during the first ice age. :-P. Snow days are a rarity for working stiffs. The delicate six sided formations lose their charm quickly when a stubborn employer refuses to close the office and forces you to trudge in it. And then it gets dirty and you have this mushy disgusting grey mess and everything is damp and all you want is a 60 degree to melt away all the crap...

I digress.

But last night and today, i found myself enjoying the blizzard that hit mid-atlantic. Well kind of. :-) My loved ones were safe and accounted for, i had snacks, offices were closed, the city had shut down and i had nowhere to go. I had the most precious of all commodities - time. So what did i do? Nothing. At least nothing of any importance. I painted (and reminded myself once more that i am NOT the artist in the family. still - it wasn't that bad. lol) baked (anybody like banana bread? zucchini bread? i am NOT going to eat all this), watched movies, played some video games and listened to music. Things that i don't have to wait for a heavy snowfall in order to do, but the snowfall made them more enjoyable because i was incapable of doing anything else. The time i took to do them was not at the expense of some other (read: more important) activity. I could have done something important, but i didn't, and I was okay with that. The time was mine to be as fruitful (or fruitless) as i pleased.

Eventually i decided to venture outside and take some pictures. I could barely see, the snow was coming down that hard, but the most remarkable thing was how quiet everything was. The regular city noises were muzzled by the layer of snow, rendering an atmosphere so bucolic that even my thoughts seemed loud and invasive. It was if i had been magically transported to a currier and ives scene, or a living snow globe. The landscape had been nearly wiped clean of its regular gaudy shapes, and if i didn't know better, i could have sworn i was in the countryside. The snow even synthesized the street lamps and telephone poles with the trees. Instead of looking like grotesque aberrations, they were almost ornamental. Everything was beautiful, if just momentarily.

Tomorrow the clean up will begin - (i am so sick of shoveling btw. i am a delicate flower! shoveling causes me to wilt! lol) - and i am not looking forward to it. Travel will commence, and the pristine quiet will be disrupted. But today, somehow, the unwelcomed weather was transformed into a welcome respite.

Les Nubians - Sourire (smile)