22 Words for Snow

No, not four-letter words. I do hate the cold, but not the snow. Weird? Well, I have to admit I don't enjoy driving in it and I'm liking shoveling it less the longer I live in a corner lot (I often hear the voice of my mom/dad complaining about a corner lot and how "Never again!" will they live in one... I think I know why, now) in the Midwest, but I still love the quiet white blanket.

It is no wonder that Eskimos have so many different words for snow. As I've lived here these last few years, I've seen some very different kinds. Take today, for instance. This morning when I went to shovel the walks, it was a glittering wonderland. Each flake was flat, pointy (like those paper snowflakes kindergarteners or college students with too much time on their hands make), and so individualized that together they reflected the light like a diamond with millions of facets. It was breathtaking! I also appreciated that, despite the 2 inches on the sidewalks, it was still very light and fluffy so it was a cinch to shovel the walks.

It was gray and dark most of the day, but after Zoë got home from school, the clouds descended and started cloaking the world in a new blanket of snow. Only, these weren't pretty flakes, but more like shards of snow.

I've also seen mini pom-pom like snow, heavy wet snow (that is more like a snow-cone), clumped snowflakes, and then there's all the varieties of sleet, frozen rain, and so forth. I think the one this morning is my favorite- except it's been accompanied by BITTER cold. I'm not so fond of that.

I wish I'd had a mega-macro lens to capture some of the awesome flakes Megan and I found in our breif foray outside this morning, but these pictures of morning and afternoon flakes (respectively) will have to suffice for now.