Let It Snow!!

When I first began to picture life in Scotland as we were contemplating the possibility of moving here for Tony's educational pursuits, my expectations were fueled by images I've seen in movies and photo books of the UK. For the most part, those expectations have been fully met - the city buildings made of stone are just as I imagined them, the abundance of beautiful churches fit right in with my imagined scenery, and certainly the beautiful fall colors and cool weather of the past 2 months were a welcomed reality. But when I heard that Edinburgh rarely gets snow due to its unique geographical location, I was really disappointed. I am a Colorado girl at heart and am happy to tolerate the unpleasant aspects of cold, snowy weather (primarily the icy roads and horrible traffic jams that it ensues) just for the beauty of the falling flakes and the cozy feeling I get when home in my slippers, a cup of coffee in hand, looking out on the snowy wonderland. I didn't miss the snow too much in Peru because it was always too warm and sunny to raise my expectations, but the cold, cloudy weather of Edinburgh always leaves me surprised that this will be another year without snow.

SO, imagine my surprise while walking home from our friends' home last night when I saw something white hit Tony's jacket and bounced off. Within a few feet I stopped completely and examined the little white things on the ground. My verdict: popcorn snow!! (At least, this is what we call the really light, round snowflakes that literally bounce when they hit the ground!) I was absolutely thrilled, and my excitement was not diminished a bit by the fact that I knew it would not amount to anything. There would be no snowy wonderland when we awoke the next morning, but I had seen a snowflake, and somehow the bitter cold walk home seemed much more pleasant knowing that it was accompanied by a few sparse and sporatic snowflakes.