Snowy Wonder
December 2, 2007 · by Christine
The Storm
Now through the white orchard my little dog
romps, breaking the new snow
with wild feet.
Running here running there, excited,
hardly able to stop, he leaps, he spins
until the white snow is written upon
in large, exuberant letters,
a long sentence, expressing
the pleasures of the body in this world.
Oh, I could not have said it better
myself.
-Mary Oliver
Yesterday afternoon it began to snow here in Seattle, a fairly unusual occurrence. I had headed off to an art class, but after less than two hours the students kept looking outside and the snow was falling heavy and beginning to pile. So we all chose to cut our time short so we could drive home before the roads got any worse. There were a couple of stops on my way home where I was at a stoplight facing downhill and I could see that my car was sliding slowly forward. As soon as I got home my husband, Tune, and I went on a walk of wonder. There is something so beautiful and peaceful about freshly fallen snow. Something that invites playfulness and delight. That is Tune’s pawprint in the photo above. She had a grand time romping and writing sentences of joy with her body.
It warmed up overnight and began to rain so our snow is now gone. But for a few moments in time everything was still and full of wonder. We were able to enter fully into “the pleasures of the body in this world.”
-Christine Valters Paintner @ Abbey of the Arts
***this is an extra post today, scroll down to keep reading about my Advent commitment***
December 2nd, 2007 at 10:57 am
I may have shared this before. If so please bear with me, but the poem and Tune’s unseen delight reminded me!
I have a very old and tattered copy of the English writer Elizabeth Goudge’s autobiography, which is called The Joy of the Snow. In the first chapter she tells us how she came to name her book:
“…her mother, accompanied by the dog Coach, had ploughed her way through a deep fall of snow to fetch her youngest home from nursery school. The hard going had been a weariness, the cold a misery to the flesh.
Ploughing back again, her youngest attached, a small voice sang out beside her, “Look, Mummy! Look at Coach and the joy of the snow!” Coach was leaping and rolling in the snow, his eyes like stars, his tail a banner. The little girl’s eyes were as bright as his, her face pink inside her hood. She glowed like a flame. Coach glowed. The mother for a few moments looked at the snow through their eyes and the earth had not smutched it.”
December 2nd, 2007 at 11:35 am
[…] tried to get images of Piper enjoying the snowy wonder, like a normal dog — but he doesn’t bound or romp or spin or wiggle or roll. He just […]
December 2nd, 2007 at 11:40 am
Good morning Christine. It is still snowing here in Vancouver but I hear the rain and higher temperatures are coming.
I don’t know which of your two posts of today to comment on first, but still have a bit of child-like snow-fever so I’ll start here.
Thank you for the images, the poem and your own words. You helped me get even more enjoyment from yesterday’s snow-day.
Tess — thank you for the info about the book. I’m going to look for this.
December 2nd, 2007 at 3:03 pm
Thank you so much for sharing your joyful, snowful walk of wonder! Such excellent photos, poem, and Tune’s cute pawful of joy! Just reading this got my body all excited to play in the snow. We haven’t had any yet and until reading this post I wasn’t all that excited about it
December 2nd, 2007 at 3:55 pm
I love that pic of Tune’s pawprint and the accompanying poem so mch it makes me *almost* jealous that you were out in the snow yesterday. Great pics, the light is amazing
December 2nd, 2007 at 4:00 pm
I love the Tune foot print…it fits so perfectly with the Mary Oliver home.
I had a home show with five other crafters of various sorts yesterday…we moved all of the furniture to the basement and made cookies and hot cider…and then it began to snow heavily a half hour after we started! I was lucky enough to have the front room windows and enjoyed the lack of business…watching the snow fall on pine trees. Later on, hoards of neighbors poured in, laughing and stomping the snow off their shoes. We filled them with hot cider and cookies and did really well financially, too. I am totally exhausted but it was lots of fun.
We had about ten inches here in St. Paul. We live across from a small playground that somehow got the name “Monkey Island” and I love watching the children play. I don’t think I want to do it myself right now but their joy at this first big snowfall is so pure and lovely.
December 2nd, 2007 at 6:47 pm
Tess, what a great quote, thanks for sharing it!
Thanks Elaine, our snow is completely gone now and it has been raining hard all day. Hard to believe just yesterday I had this wondrous experience.
You are welcome Bette! Her paw is pretty adorable.
Snow is always very exciting around here because we hardly get any, but usually brings the city to a standstill.
Thanks Sue, the light was pretty amazing, the world had this great bluish hue.
Suz, so glad your show went so well! And how fun you got to share in the snowy wonder.
December 3rd, 2007 at 8:05 pm
We had snow, sleet, and ice…I do enjoy snow, except perhaps when it’s in my driveway!