The First Snow

I woke up to a sunny, beautiful and brisk November morning. Once I had my morning shuffle out of the way I realized it's been a while since I went to Siedman Park. It was a perfect place to bring tofu! As I was getting dressed, the weather slowly picked up. Still sunny, but there were some clouds rolling in. I shuffled off in my bundles and with Tofu in hand not really knowing where the weather would take us.

When we arrived at the park it was still gloriously sunny but as Tofu and I began our walk through the woods it slowly started to snow. Crossing the bridge I realized that I was actually quite enamored that it had started to snow. As we walked further I couldn't help but keep thinking how happy I was that it was snowing and how beautiful it looked in the forest. Any other year I would have despised the onset of snow. I kept thinking about why it was just so different this year. Was it because I could go back to our new home, snuggle up on our couch, make warm food in my kitchen? (yes. kitchen. MINE!) Or was it because I had no 9-5 job that I would have to begrudgingly drag myself out into the cold to scrape off a car only to have it warm up just as I get to work where I would then have to walk another 5 minutes in the cold with wet boots. Maybe it's  little of both. I get to be in a warm place called home and watch the seasons as they pass.

My thoughts slowly faded as Tofu and I came across a clearing in the woods. My memory flashes back and it's the same place my friend Rachael and I had stopped years ago. It was very similar weather, cold and wet. Maybe a little more snow then. I remember distinctly stopping here to enjoy some warm oatcakes that Rachael had made. They were amazing. Just simple and filling. Walking out into the clearing, the sun shone a little brighter and the snow fell a little bit more. I was also surrounded by many different varieties of moss and lichen. Tofu, in a burst of energy, grabbed a blue-green fluff of lichen, shook it about and tossed it up in the air. He was doing exactly what I wanted to do. Run and play. we ran out into the middle where I proceeded to throw more fluffs of moss in the air for him to catch. Upon leaving the clearing I suddenly got a craving for oatcakes...

Just on our way back, the path went parallel with the creek. I was curious if Tofu was interested. He was sniffing around and dodging very close to the edge of the creek. He bounced on top of a log that was half in the water and half on the shore covered by a pile of leaves. Tofu must have thought the leaves were solid ground, but then went "Sploot!" into the ice cold water. I think it gave him a nice wake-up. His eyes got big and his ears shot back. I don't think he hated it though... he very calmly went back to shore, shook off, and pranced about!

He was pretty much asleep on the car ride home, curled up in the back. I went though about 5 distinct weather shifts from sunny, to sunny and snowy, dark and snowy, just plain dark, to being sunny and clear again. After making lunch we curled up on the couch for a bit to watch some South Park. It seemed like every few minutes my eyes would wander out the window to just admire the amounts of snow falling. Then I remembered. Oatcakes.

I made some oatcakes and watched the snow fall some more....