The Snow Is Going

Disclaimer: The scene opposite does not represent the alley behind the house as it looks today. That picture was taken the day we all dug out after the second big storm, Son of Snowpocalypse.

Today it's overcast and drizzly, and for a number of days now the snow has been melting. The mounds of it along the roads are blackened with exhaust, and it's mixed with mud anywhere people have walked. The weather is chilly and raw, and the scenery is depressing.

Yes, it's easier to get around. For days those icicles there would drop water on the back steps, and the water would freeze at night, and if you went down the steps you stood a good chance of starting your day with a compound fracture. Today the steps are clear. And going to the store for food is something you can just do, without thinking how difficult or dangerous the conditions will be. There's something to be said for that.

But it's still dreary. It's like if you lived in a city that was captured by an enemy army. Now the enemy is defeated, the columns of prisoners marching out of the city with weary, downcast expressions as even the most timid of the citizens jeer from the sidewalk. I know it's absurd to feel sympathy for snow, but these storms always have their moments of glory and then trail away ignominiously, and it's just not very uplifting, somehow. If you've ever seen a once-jaunty snowman shrink and sag more and more with every passing warm day, you may know what I mean.

Of course I realize the rising temperatures and seeping water is setting us up for spring. Nature will come back to warm, brilliantly colored life. Just not today, that's all.