emmaandalex

Winter Wrap-Up: Our Snowy Town

Everyone here says this winter has been exceptionally snowy.  For that, I’m actually glad.  Without snow, winter here seems to be very brown, gray, and somewhat gloomy.  A good snowfall, however, gives our town an austere charm and turns my daily walk to school into an arctic trek.

This February especially, snowfalls came one after the other, leaving us a good foot or two for weeks on end.  Narrow trails all over town were quickly stamped flat by lots of us walkers taking the path of least resistance.  The roads were pressed into glaciers.  Occasional days above freezing followed by more fresh powder crusted and stratified the undisturbed snow, so that at times you could walk on top of the “fresh” snow as though you were wearing snowshoes.  Getting around wasn’t easy, but it wasn’t really treacherous except for a few times when the trails melted on a warm day and then froze overnight.

We’re all ready for spring now, even though it means suffering through a few weeks of slush and mud.  The sky is sometimes blue, now, and the sun makes regular appearances again.  The bare brown earth is visible again, but I think some of these glaciers may stick around for a couple more months.

Emma's heading off to work.

Our picturesque park.

We had a nice wide trail through the park after the first light snow.

The trail through the park got narrower when the snow got higher.

The central heating pipe that cuts through town is covered in icicles.

The lyceum students built a giant snowman on the cafeteria roof.

The trail to our door.

Our neighbors clear a path to get the car out of the garage.

Marshrutkas don't let a little snow and ice stop them. We're flagging one down to go the city for a day.

Our snowman on the soccer field was sadly knocked over before we could get a pic.