Snow day!

Today my alarm went off at 7, and I woke up happy, because last night it snowed! As I may have mentioned before, this makes Alaskans 700% happier, if they are somewhere beyond their home state and suddenly the weather does something familiar.

I decided I wanted to get some pictures of all the beautiful fluff (all inch and a half of it) in the morning, while the light was good. Clear blue sky.

I bounced out of bed and woke up one of my housemates. She was deep in a dream about kicking people’s asses in a bar, and initially confused when I burst into her room to say ‘Wake up! It’s sooo pretty outside! I want to go take pictures. You should be my model! Umm.. but if you want to sleep, that’s cool too. I’ll go pee, and you can get up or go back to sleep.’

She got up. Housemate number two was also up, vaccilating about going to work. We quickly determined the buses were on snow routes, and generally very delayed. So we all got bundled up and went outside. The sun was not up yet, and the temperature was a crisp 27F, which, for Seattle, is practically the start of a new ice age. We bounced down the street in the cool predawn glow, and watched a few cars slide by.

Sunshine started to hit the trees as we got to a nearby park. The light was beautiful, and all three of us ran around snapping photos, lobbing the occasional puff of snow at each other, and laughing like little kids. We swung on the swings, and petted a passing dog, a little spaniel shivering in his funny little red dog coat. We went down the slides in the playground, which, despite being only six feet high, were slick with snow, shooting us down and into the powder below. Best of all was the spiral slide. Next we spent some time on the merry-go-round, clutching cameras and trying not to slide off with the centrifugal force.

Then we went to Top Pot, where the big donut on the roof is now a powdered donut, for coffee, hot chocolate, tea, and a few old-fashioned donuts. Everyone agreed it was the best morning ever, and all before ten o’clock!

Now the day continues sunny, and return of boyfriend from China is imminent (although he’s only coming back for bit). I’m counting the minutes — he should be going through customs now — and planning to watch Master and Commander, you know, as research for work.