Before the Snowstorm

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2011

Announced by all the trumpets of the sky,
Arrives the snow, and, driving o'er the fields,
Seems nowhere to alight: the whited air
Hides hills and woods, the river, and the heaven,
And veils the farm-house at the garden's end.
The sled and traveller stopped, the courier's feet
Delayed, all friends shut out, the housemates sit
Around the radiant fireplace, enclosed
In a tumultuous privacy of storm.

- Ralph Waldo Emerson
From The Snow-Storm

As we begin the month of February, a blizzard is forecast here in the Toronto area. Emerson’s quote seems quite appropriate today as we await the storm. On this first day of February, Number 16 presents some quotations about snow to you.

A lot of people like snow. I find it to be an unnecessary freezing of water.

- Carl Reiner


The aging process has you firmly in its grasp if you never get the urge to throw a snowball.

- Doug Larson


Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow

- Robert Frost
From Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening (1923)


When men wre all asleep the snow cam flying,
In large white flakes falling on the city brown,
Stealthily and perpetually settling and loosely lying,
Hushing the latest traffic of the drowsy town.

- Robert Bridges (1844-1930), English poet
From London Snow (1890


RIDDLE ME THIS

What do you get when you cross a pumpkin with a pirate?

ANSWER

A pumpkin patch


That’s all for today, Sixteeners. I’m going to hunker down and get ready for the storm. 

- Joanne