Δαφνη Ευτυχια Αρθουρος

Whoops. It's snowing. Softly, slowly. But being the first real snow (i.e. not just a flurry) of the season, it doesn't have to be at all impressive to make the roads tricky. The television folks just predicted an inch, which ought not be a challenge once people remember what snow is. (Well, as much as they ever do remember how to drive in it here, anyhow.[*]) My problem? I've got plenty of milk, toilet paper, and eggs, but I'm down to my last two slices of bread. And regardless of not wanting to take a shower in a cold house just to go deal with slippery roads and scared drivers, I don't want to go near a grocery store during the season's first snowfall ... not in Maryland, where the word triggers a Pavlovian response of "buy milk and toilet paper right now", at any point in the season. I'll wait until tomorrow, when (I think) it'll all be on the ground -- the phenomenon seems to be limited to when snow is either falling or predicted, not when it's sitting there.

But hey, it's pretty.

[*] Contrary to stereotypes envisioned by people in other places, it's not that nobody in Balto-Wash can drive in snow; it's just that enough people here can't -- and some just can't drive worth a damn in any weather -- that their presence on the road makes things that much more challenging for the significant number of people who can drive in snow. That, and the fact that we get truly clobbered by snow so seldom that it's not cost effective for local governments to keep the really serious snow removal equipment on hand. So every few years, when we do get hit with the kind of snowfall that someplace like Buffalo deals with routinely, the cities that deal with it month after month, winter after winter, mock us for not being able to keep up.