Signs of winter

I came home today to find yardstick-high wooden stakes topped with fluorescent orange tape lining the roads in my condo complex. Their annual appearance is as much a sign of approaching winter as squirrels hoarding nuts and birds flying south in formation. When snow blankets everything in sight, the squares of orange tape will appear like runway lights, guiding the snowplow drivers between white road and white sidewalk and white driveway.

Last night our breath mushroomed out before us in visible puffs; like comic-strip characters, our words written in white balloons.

Boots are lined up on long display benches – blunt nosed and lug soled, pointy toed and sharp heeled, fur lined, fleece lined, zippered, laced, quilted, buckled, chunky suede or sleek leather – choose your foot armor for the onslaught of slush, ice, snow and cold.

This afternoon I passed a couple walking a dog, its head plowing under the deep pile of leaves along the roadside. We all laughed. It was just after 4:00 and the sun was already turning tail over the horizon. I climbed the hill up to my house and smelled the first woodsmoke of the season.

---

Update: Playing around with a hay(ha)ku version:

Signs of Winter

Snowstakes
await white
cloaked roads, walkways -

already
our breaths
puff cartoon balloons.

Toe
to toe
our boots meet

winter's
pursuit. See
the sun's quick

exit
trailing curls
of wood smoke.

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Comments

[maria]

This is so lovely and evocative -- and full of new facts for those of us who live without snow! I didn’t know about the sticks and orange tape before! Also, with our mini heat wave around here (in the high 70s and almost low 80s), a cool breath would be welcome -- not just to feel less heat, but also less worry about the extended fire season.

[leslee]

Thanks, Maria. I'd never seen snowstakes before I moved to this condo complex. Makes sense for the plows, though. But it's a little daunting to see 3-foot high stakes anticipating deep snow!

(I added the poem since your comment.)

[mary]

Oh those 4pm sunsets! As someone also in a chilly weather zone I have such mixed feelings about this time of year. For all its undoubted beauty, it does demand strength and stamina on a daily basis just to deal with the cold .... (or maybe I'm just a sissy).

[leslee]

Mary, I loved winter when I used to ski. Being able to turn it into fun makes it a whole other ball of... snow. But if you're just trying to get around in it - not so much fun. We're due to have some snow on Thanksgiving, making the visiting a bit of a hassle. Oh well, being cozy inside with other people is the other consolation of winter!