It’s okay to turn off the snow-making machine now because I think we’ve had enough white stuff already. Luckily, not that many people had to go to work today, so they were spared the angst of driving around in this snowy mess. When I went outside mid-morning, the snow was falling softly and had settled into small drifts around the house and looked very pristine and picturesque in the backyard. There were tiny bird tracks everywhere and several “jumping” tracks, probably belonging to the squirrel who was scurrying about, puzzled over where his peanut stash might be under all the snow. Two small icicles had formed on the furnace pipe which surprised me since it seems the heat is on more than it is off these days. The window panes in my neighbor Marge’s garage had exquisite etchings on them, courtesy of Jack Frost, and they looked similar to all but the small bare spot where this bear is gazing wistfully from in the picture above. Perhaps he is thinking of making bear angels. Do kids still make snow angels? As a youngster I remember the joy of jumping into a fresh canvas of snow in my snowsuit and laying in a spread-eagle position, then propelling my arms and legs to create wings and an angel’s dress respectively. All of us neighborhood kids would hate to go outside in the cold weather to play, but our moms made us bundle up from top to toe and within minutes we were oblivious to the cold and busy making angels, building snowmen or snow forts and having a great time. When I was just a toddler, my father built me a wooden sleigh on big runners and every snowy Sunday in the Winter when my parents took me to High Park, they’d put me in the sleigh and pull me around by the heavy rope handle. I have black and white pictures of myself sitting like a little princess on the velvet tufted cushion in that sleigh just happily taking in all the sights. After we moved from Toronto to the suburbs, one Christmas my parents bought me a two-person toboggan and my father used to take me tobogganing at a large hill near where we lived. He’d climb on behind me and away we’d go down the hill. It was more effort to climb up to the top of the hill helping to tote the toboggan, but the ride down sure was grand but over much too quickly and then the process had to be repeated in a matter of minutes. When we moved to the States there were no nearby hills, so the toboggan hung in the garage for years and finally it was given to some friends of my parents who had a place up North. The Winter sports enthusiasts are overjoyed with this weather, while I am sure the school kids are feeling gypped out of “snow days” for the second time in a month. The first significant snowfall came on a Saturday and this one occurred during their school break. Well better luck next time kids … rest easy, I’m sure there is plenty more snow coming down the pike.