Am pausing in the sweltering SoCal heat to answer this week’s unusual WordPress Photo Challenge with three photos. Though snowfall isn’t an unusual occurrence for lots of people, I’ve always found a special magic in snow – and boy would I welcome a little flurry just now!
Having grown up largely deprived of pack and powder, I adore visiting snowy climes – and I’ve been especially delighted by “surprise” snow at places and times I didn’t expect! Like I’ve traveled plenty over the mountainous Grapevine that separates LA from California’s Central Valley, and the trip is generally a hot one that punishes unsuspecting cars. But one February, I got treated to the sight of lovely snow-dusted peaks instead of the dry, brown ones I’ve usually encountered:
I also got a surprise once while traveling with the folks through the Lake Tahoe area in June (granted, a place that’s no stranger to snow – ask the Donner Party…). After settling in at a motel on Donner Pass, we awoke to find that the weather had turned overnight and the ground and trees outside were speckled with snow:
Now, neither situation was unprecedented – or even chain-worthy – but those snows were an extra-special treat because I simply hadn’t seen them coming!
The savvy people who run Disneyland must understand that novelty for an Angeleno like me. When I was there one evening around last Christmas, they had a machine generate gentle snowfall over a crowd of us gathered near Tom Sawyer Island – and I was figuratively and even a bit literally tickled!
Yes, snow isn’t an unusual thing for many. And if I had to keep it off the driveway on a regular basis, our relationship might be a little different. But having lived most of my life apart from snow, I really do find it extraordinary!
Some might judge that the unusual thing here is for a person to become giddy over snow in some mountains – much less fake snow in December. But me? I’m just happy to be enchanted!
TESSEROLOGY 
Hi Amy,
Great blog! I loved the phrase “chain worthy”!
Love you, too! Please give your Mum a hug from me.
Pastor Jack and a healthier Ruth
Thank you, Pastor Jack! And love from Mum and me to you and Ruth (along with our prayers for her continued improvement)!
lovely story Amy. And the Tom Sawyer Island took me many years down memory lane. Tom Sawyer was one of my fab story and I still keep an old book of him. Thank you for posting.
Thank you! I love Tom Sawyer (and Mark Twain) too! A bit hard to make out but that’s a big Mississippi-type riverboat in the background of the Disney picture. Thanks again for stopping by!
[…] TESSEROLOGY A Tidbit: Snowy […]
Here’s to enchantment! : )
Indeed!
We don’t get huge amounts of snow – but enough to make it a pain rather than a pleasure! I agree, it looks magical though, at least when it’s pristine before boots and tyres have churned it up into slush.
Yes, I’ve had an innocent relationship with snow – I’ve only gotten to enjoy it and not try to function in it… Thanks for reading!
I hated winter when I lived in Cleveland, and I didn’t understand how people could be excited for snow, but after living in London for so long, I get it now! If it’s going to be cold anyway, I’d rather have the snow to go with it, instead of just endless horrible grey days of freezing wind.
Yeah, above all things I like to be warm and dry! I’m quite the weather wimp and though I’d love to try living in London for a time, I’m really afraid I’d have trouble with wind and gloom…
Snow makes to world seem soft and new again.
Nicely put! 😃
Thanks.
I just moved from Connecticut to SoCal and I enjoyed the lack of snow this winter! Maybe after a few years I’ll start to miss it…but I can’t tell you how nice it was to not have to shovel my driveway or clean snow and ice off my car before work in the morning!
Welcome to sweltering SoCal! Yeah, I realize my perspective on snow is a bit naive – but I do love the stuff!
Thank you! Everyone from around here seems so enamored by snow and I’m thankful for the break from it! Snow is quite beautiful always, it’s really the freezing temperatures I’m happy to be without.
Oh, I totally get this… Snow is a rare treat in Ireland, too! Thanks for sharing your snowy memories, Amy 😀
Thank YOU! And yes, maybe it’s the absence that makes our hearts fond!
Another snow lover here!!
Excellent!
Same for me I grew up where it snow little to none but have now been living where snow is common and have to say, every time I am still in aw of such beauty and find it just as enchanted as the first snowfall☃️
Aw, that’s nice to hear (even though I’m a bit jealous)! You hold onto that enchanted feeling!