Where'd It Go?

It is the dawn of a new day. The long-awaited sun peeks out from behind swirls of grey clouds. A balmy wind quickens the branches of the birch and spruce trees. The grass emerges from beneath the receding snow. Birds flit eagerly about searching for food in the newly uncovered earth. Children converge outside, quickly fashioning from the remaining slush one last snowman.

Meanwhile, on the radio, Dean Martin sings about a "marshmallow world" while various other renditions of "Winter Wonderland" play their taunting tunes....

Wait a minute. It's not spring. It's Christmas-time!

This is a time when Alaskans depend on the gentle pink glow reflected from our annual blanket of snow to illuminate from below what does not shine down from above. But now, except for our weakly-lighted 5 1/2 hours of daytime, the world is black as pitch. The street lights and Christmas lights fade into darkness, barely illuminating anything.

This week, chinook winds from the southeast brought ridiculously warm air into the Anchorage bowl, melting the promising base layer of snow from our fair city. Residents, even those who profess to hate winter, are discouraged and crabby, cursing the mild temperatures, and pining for the days of 15 and 20 degrees.

This is what our world looked like the day after our Thanksgiving snowstorm:

Ah, it was a marvelous, magical wonderland, fit to incite envy in even the most heat-seeking of children.

THIS is what our yard looks like this afternoon:

What more can I say? A picture is worth a thousand words.

Weep for us. Weep for those who wish to visit us this winter. Weep for those who bought us snowshoes and other winter-activity-related-gear for Christmas gifts (you know who you are).

Ah, well, at least we still have 3 1/2 more months of potentially snow-producing months left in front of us. Hope springs eternal.