The snow began in the late afternoon and continued on steadily throughout the night. PJ was hopping around like a little kid in anticipation of the winter wonderland to come. Although the sun had set at 4:15, the growing blanket of whiteness kept the darkness at bay, magnifying the glow of the streetlights and adding a sparkle to the night. We would occasionally step outside to catch a few flakes on our tongues and to feel the soft flurries billow around us.

The morning brought colder temperatures and a neighborhood transformed from its daily ho-hum existence into a picture postcard panorama. The snow plows whose brittle scrapings punctuated our dreams the night before had pushed up banks against the driveway and lawn. A little shoveling with the help of the boys next door quickly opened up a corridor to the street and the world beyond.

Wrapping warm scarves tightly around our necks, we stepped out into the chilly day. All of the houses were covered in icing like so many gingerbread cottages lining the way. We trudged as far as the lake where its waters were ruffled by the consistently blowing wind. Christmas decorations adorning people’s lawns took on a new perspective with the additional “flocking” they received from the storm.

The telltale signs of the renegade rafter of turkeys that reign over the block appeared along the curb. We were getting close. It wasn’t long before we came upon the group poking around through the bushes in someone’s yard. There were fewer than usual. Some of the less hardy gobblers must have decided to take a snow day.

Gettin Close!

There they are!

A few cars came slushing or sliding by but the neighborhood was mostly calm and quiet, the kind of easy silence gained from an extra ten inches of insulation dusted onto everything. We enjoyed a nice snow day ourselves watching the birds outside pecking away at the seeds that PJ replenishes for them daily. We moved the feeders a bit further from the patio to discourage the rogue kamikaze bird from challenging the window. Although now, the local hawk is feeling a bit more emboldened and takes an occasional swoop down on our little flock to see if he can catch someone being a little less than attentive to their environment. The yard is beautiful with hidden crystals in the snow sparkling when the sun hits them at just the right angle. It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

Last one in is a rotten egg