Snow Pictures

I'm not a photographer, although one of my photographs did make it into the "I Dream of a Richmond" photography show a few years back, a fact of which I am inordinately proud.

Still, when I opened my bedroom shade this morning to discover it was snowing, it didn't occur to me to grab my camera before leaving for my walk. It was a shame, too, because Grace Street was a winter wonderland, offering endless photographic possibilities with the snow coming down.

At a house where the tree out front had been decorated with giant colorful Christmas balls, each wore a slightly askew cap of snow, its angle dependent on how the snow was blowing. It was especially interesting because only the balls on either side of the tree had snow caps; the center ones did not.

Holly bushes looked like something off a Christmas card, with just the sharp green points and bottoms of the red berries visible. Greenery garlands strung on porches had a similar holiday look with their accents of white. If ever these homeowners wanted to take a seasonal picture of their houses, today was the day.

I saw a few tired pumpkins covered with snow as well as some scraggly mums buried under the a blanket of it, making for a perfect analogy about the shift of the seasons.

And everyone I passed asked me some version of the same question, "Isn't the snow great?" Besides the pure pleasure of walking while it's snowing (something I love) I like it because this is the perfect snow experience: beautiful, seasonally appropriate and not the least bit inconvenient.

And while I didn't take any photographs, the images are in my head so I could go on and on about all the beautiful snow-covered things I saw (the fences, the birdhouses, the rooflines...).

Just ask.