I don’t do snow. It’s beautiful inside a souvenir. It’s nice to look at on a post card. It’s even nice if I can fly to it for a couple of days then fly back to a nice warm climate home but over all…I’m against snow. Yes, I did a snow dances as a child in Kentucky…primarily with the hopes of getting out of school and sliding down the hill in my back yard but nowadays, it’s just a cold, miserable mess and class’s rarely get cancelled and work doesn’t either. In fact, now that I think about it…If I was back in Alabama, work would be cancelled.
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| In the suburb of Böblingen just outside of Stuttgart today |
The buzz that snow was on the way made me cringe more than the thought of the statistics final I’ve been putting off. Folks I came across talked about praying for snow. I prayed that the good Lord would do the opposite of their prayers. I was just now accepting that fall was among us. I was even welcoming the idea of embracing the beautiful autumn.
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| Got to act quickly to photograph the fall before the snow. |
The Idaho beau and I went up to Bruges, Belgium for the weekend. Part of the way there it was a wet, messy drive but soon we were in the clear and the rest of the weekend was chilly but pleasant. On the long drive back home I looked over the embankment thinking, man, that full moon is shinning bright over there…hold up…that’s not bright, that’s white. Holy smack, it snowed in Badden-Württemberg! It’s not even Halloween! Why is it snowing in Stuttgart?!
I expressed concerns that the snow could put a damper on our plans to visit Prague next weekend. People may not be on Charles Bridge due to the cold weather. My beau from Idaho disagreed.
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| Street corner near my work. I love how pretty the |
“The only reason this is a problem for you is because you’re from the south. We have to get you some gear,” He says.
I guess that’s true. I came to Stuttgart two July’s ago with a suitcase full of sundresses, halter tops and sandals and froze my tail end off. When winter came, the little sweaters I had from back in Bama were not doing the trick. With a shrunk full of clothes, I had nothing to wear. But it was only bone chilling cold for about two weeks last year so I suffered through. Does this first snow forebode a long rough winter to come? If so, I will have to go shopping.
Last February I contemplated traveling to Budapest. It’s too cold, I thought; I might as well stay inside and stay warm. Then I reasoned, if I wait until ideal weather in Europe, I’m never going to see or do anything. So I went on my trip. The frost covered trip snowballed into a whirlwind of travel adventures. The Germans don’t let foul weather slow them down and neither will I. But my goodness, couldn’t we have eased into winter instead of this abrupt sneak attack?