Snowing

If only you could hear the sound of snow
Hakuin Ekaku

One could hear the sound of snow today. It is snowing heavily here, and it has been snowing since well before before sunrise: visibility minimal, sidewalks, curbs, stairways and trails almost impossible to locate under a layer of fine fluffy white more than a foot deep, ponds concealed under snowdrifts and a pearly gray twilight draped over everything in the village.

One can stay indoors looking out on a day like this, or one can wrap up and go for a long walk. I become restless when stuck indoors for a whole day, so going for a long walk in the snow is just what I did, dressing warmly to escape the wind and keeping to the edges of the park in the sure knowledge that there were several shallow ponds hidden under the snow, and that the water in them would be icy cold.

There is something very Zen about these northern December days and their winter storms - all of existence white and made new, concealed behind gauzy diaphanous veils and full of infinite possibility.