Snow!

Well, finally! Through all my attempts this winter to take pictures of snow on the Santa Catalina Mountains north of me, I've secretly (or not so secretly) been hoping for this unusually cold Tucson winter to produce some actual snow in the city, seemingly for the first time in five years or more. I'd almost forgotten what it looked like up close. Tonight I got my wish - and then some.

It started as we drove to Safeway around 5 PM. It had been raining, and John noticed that the rain was turning into snow - just barely. Anything that hit the windshield was already melted, but in the air...yes. It was big and white.

We pulled into the Safeway parking lot, and as we got out of the car we could see that the snow was really starting to look like, well, snow. As we shopped, I kept hearing the word "snow" coming from the mouths of both Safeway employees and our fellow shoppers.



Back home I took a few shots of snow in the sky and snow on my car. Then I drove to work, admiring the beautiful, rather heavy snowfall as I drove through it. I got to the office safely, only to realize that I forgot my security badge. I didn't really mind - it was a chance enjoy the snow a little longer. I wasn't the only one, either. At least three sets of my neighbors were outside taking pictures as I left the house again.


When I got back to work I parked right next to the building, partly because there's no competition for the space on a Sunday night (the lot was almost completely empty otherwise), partly for safety, and partly on the theory that the building would shield the car from some of the snow. By that time the snow was actually "sticking" rather than melting as it hit the ground.



It was almost 1 AM when I left the office again. I wish I could tell you it was a very productive evening, but I had a few setbacks I couldn't do anything about tonight. When I got outside I had to run the front and rear defrosters and wait. The windshield didn't have all that much snow on it, but what was there was icing up, and the windshield wipers couldn't budge it. The back window was also completely covered with snow and ice. I passed the time chatting about snow with a security guard who used to live in Buffalo. Seems to me a lot of people in Tucson are refugees from the "lake effect" snow I grew up with in Manlius. Not too surprisingly, I no longer know whether we even own an ice scraper; so I mostly relied on the sleeve of my jacket to brush away what I could.



The front yard at home at 1:05 AM or so was a winter wonderland. The plant in the middle is bougainvillea.


The neighbor's tree was also pretty neat-looking.

I just hope John remembers to start his car well before he needs to leave for work.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention - I'm happy to say I got the sixth-most votes out of seven candidates for the St. Michael's vestry. That means I was not elected, but I'm told that I'll probably either end up filling a vacancy when it comes up or be asked to run again next year. That's all right. At least I don't have to commit the time right now. Several people told me they voted for me. At the last possible second I even voted for myself - I was on the fence about it until that moment. Meanwhile, Father Smith wants me to choose thirty or forty of my best shots of St. Michael's, and have them printed for the parish directory. The photography studio specifically says "no digital photography," but we should get away with the full-size, high-res images.

Karen