Look out any window to see a scene of loveliness: at home, bright red cardinals standing out against a snowy background; at the office, a blue college flag flapping above the snow-covered campus. From safe within a warm house or office, the snow adds an enticing layer of white to the otherwise bleak midwinter, a soothing vision for my fatigued eyes.
But driving in this weather is another story altogether. For days I've been fighting my way through a mixture of snow, slush, fog, rain, sleet, and ice every time I leave the house; the snow isn't particularly deep but it keeps coming, so it's really hard for the roads to stay cleared. This morning I followed a snowplow most of the way to work, rarely moving at more than 30 mph even on the highway, but even behind the plow the road remained slick and treacherous.
Yesterday's drive was the worst; I arrived home feeling wet, cold, exhausted, and miserable, but then I opened the door and smelled bacon. My adorable husband had made breakfast for supper, eggs and bacon with homemade bread inside my warm cozy house where I could look out the window and enjoy the beauty of winter without the cold nipping my cheeks and toes.
I ought to put my boots on and go out for a tromp with the camera--which, as far as I can remember, hasn't been out of the camera bag for the entire month of January--but I'm stuck on campus for meetings and course preps and teaching observations, because yes, the tenure and promotion committee still has a heavy workload this semester so I'll be visiting a bunch of classrooms over the next three weeks. But the days are getting longer so I may get home before dusk, and if I do, I'll try to make some footprints in the snow so I can say I enjoyed winter before all this loveliness melts clear away.
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