When snow falls...

The snow began falling in the early afternoon. It was light and somewhat powdery at first, but as afternoon turned into evening it became heavier and heavier until in a very short space of time it had painted everything pure white. And it continued falling. Quietly, gently, silently, but persistently. The layer of white began to grow and grow and, as I stood and stared out of the window in undisguised childlike glee, it looked like a veritable Winter Wonderland to me!

In the same way I have always loved to watch it raining, and the heavier the better, I’ve loved to watch the snow come down, the thicker the better! And just as rain excites me by the noise it makes, snow enchants me by the noise it doesn’t make, by its silent presence. It gradually produces an effect that holds me in thrall: it muffles sounds, so that it produces an eerie but fascinating silence that envelops everything. The sound of rain thrills me, the silence of snow puts me in awe, and the wonder of Nature enthralls me. And that in turn awakens in me a feeling tantamount to a sort of spiritual, not to say religious, experience in its own way.

And so as it snowed on, I did what I have done many times before: I took out my camera and began taking pictures of the snow and its effects. I opened the window or the door and felt a delightful shiver run down my spine as the cold sharp air blew in and I felt a few snowflakes touch my face, borne in by the chilly breeze. Undeterred, and feeling a sense of excitement, I snapped away, and the photos in this blog are just a tiny fraction of the many pics I took on that day. I wanted a visual record of the event, as indeed I had wanted of the snow that had fallen just over a year ago.

As night fell, the snow, still strong, continued to descend and now its general effect on the landscape was altered in the bright light of the street lamps. The dim grey light of the dark overcast day was replaced by the eerie glow of artificial yellowy-white light which picked out the free-falling snowflakes and lit up the carpet of snow that lay all around. In turn the snow reflected back the light and the end-result was a magical nocturnal display in yellow and white reflections, an optical melody to delight the eye.

Am I exaggerating the beauty and effect of snow? Perhaps I am… because for me it is a very personal and even emotional experience, as I have said. I have always found the sight of falling snow and freshly-fallen snow strangely comforting, strangely soothing in its desolate beauty. Few other natural phenomena can compare in my estimation. But the hour was late, and as I finally dragged myself reluctantly to bed, laid myself down, my mind was full of the scene outside. A gentle peace came upon me and I drifted into that welcome sleep that rests and refreshes both mind, body and soul.