Treacherous Morning

The quiet atmosphere of my walk to school this morning was punctuated by the futile buzz of tires trying to gain traction on slick, icy roads. I live in a hilly area, and cars of all shapes and sizes had difficulty maneuvering this morning, in the first snowfall of the season that actually stuck to the streets. (The last snow we had was October 18th, but it only stuck to the grass and it melted off by mid morning.) These are the mornings when I am grateful that the boys' school is only 1/2 mile away, grateful that I don't have the car to even tempt me to drive, grateful that I am on foot, and not trying to negotiate icy roads in a 4,000 pound minivan. As it was, I slipped and slid a bit on foot, but the only one at risk was me.

As I type this there is a car spinning its wheels on the street just outside our playroom gate, unable to move. I wanted to take a picture of all the cars struggling just to climb the gentle slope outside our house, but the kids were playing with the camera this week and the batteries are dead, and apparently we're out of fresh batteries right now. But here is a picture a friend took a couple streets over from us, on the street coming up from the boys' school. (Jing Wastart posted it on Facebook; I cropped it and adjusted the coloring on it, but I should probably still give her credit for taking the picture.)

I hope the sun manages to come out and melt the ice a bit before this evening. I have some birthday shopping I need to do before tomorrow!