Tag Archives: snow

The first snow

by in #365grateful, Attitude, Everyday Life, Expat life, Finland, Gratitude, Helsinki, Random musings, snow, Winter and tagged , , , | Leave a comment

As soon as I learned that snow was set to arrive in southern Finland this week, that little-kid excitement took over. Anticipation. Wonder. More anticipation. Awaiting snow’s arrival takes me back to those moments as a kid, waiting to see if we’d have snow, how much would eventually fall and if school would be cancelled. It wasn’t so much that I didn’t want to go to school; but, rather, I wanted to run around in the freshly fallen fluff until my outdoor gear was soaking wet and I was exhausted.

Today’s snow isn’t all that fluffy. It’s weighty and wet and quickly melting rather than piling high. School won’t be cancelled for me today (because I didn’t have any classes scheduled) nor is snow ever likely to cancel classes in Finland. But, I’m still excited.

Unlike most days when I’m not in class, I needed to be somewhere this morning. After bundling up and donning the boots which I’ll likely wear through April, I found myself bracing against the icy grains of snow and smiling. I really do love snow, particularly as it falls and particularly as it changes everything it piles upon into something other worldly. No two snowfalls are alike, just as no two snowflakes are identical.

Today, the sound that accompanies snowfall struck me once again. Everything is muffled, and somehow more gentle. More muted. More peaceful. A few birds tweeted either their delight or disdain, breaking my own snow-induced trance. Perhaps those tweets were more distinct because all other sounds were muffled by the snow.

As I walked to and fro, I continued smiling as I walked in the first snow.

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Day 31: Proekt 365 (The magic of snow)

by in #365grateful, Environment, Helsinki, Random musings, snow, Winter and tagged , | 1 Comment
Day 31: Proekt 365 The magical wonder that is snow

Day 31: Proekt 365
The magical wonder that is snow

All day, I’ve lived in this bubble of excitement. You could probably run a small appliance on the energy coursing through my veins today. All because of snow.

Earlier in the week, we had forecasts of snow for this weekend, which had a predicted arrival of late Friday / early Saturday. It was like waiting for Christmas in many ways. And, to be honest, I squealed with sheer delight when I looked out the window earlier today and saw what looked like the inside of a gigantic snow globe.  The thrill of a possible ‘snow day’ was relived, although ‘snow day’ has absolutely zero relevance in my life today, other than being a day during which snow has fallen. But, I love it all the same.

I honestly don’t know what it is specifically about snow that I love so much. As I was out this evening, the biting chill of ice shards hitting my face were not so lovely. But, watching the snow swirl in the street lights and that which had fallen blow and drift on the sidewalks, it all provided a bit of beauty and life oddly enough to an otherwise lifeless landscape. Everything seems so lifeless in winter, particularly this far north. Yet, snow always seems to provide this sense of something else—a metamorphosis of sorts into a new beginning, a purification of all that was, a chance to reset and recalibrate. The world seems utterly transformed and somehow different after a significant snowfall. Each season has its purpose; to me, winter and specifically snow is all about that transition from what was to what can be. Perhaps that is why I love snow so much.

Never has a bus ride home, particularly on the night bus, passed so quickly. It may have been the combination of Radiohead and snow (as well as a few glasses of red wine and the residual high from an evening of great company amongst good friends), but it was fabulous. Perhaps the loveliest of all things this evening was walking on freshly fallen, completely-undisturbed-by-anyone-else snow. The sound and the silence at once enchant me.

As Helsinki braces itself for a massive amount of snow, I know I should hope for less of it. But, honestly and for purely selfish reasons, I am screaming ‘let it snow, let it snow, let it snow’ as loud as humanly possible.

Day 12: Proekt 365 (Flowers & Fish in Snow)

by in #365grateful, Everyday Life, Helsinki, Knitting, snow, Winter and tagged , , , | Leave a comment
Day 12: Proekt 365 A friend sent me this pic which combines snow and a yarn bomb. Perfection.

Day 12: Proekt 365
A friend sent me this pic which combines snow and a yarn bomb. Perfection.

It is sooooo much brighter today with just a few centimetres of fresh snow on the ground. The day was made brighter still when my friend Andrea sent the picture above of a yarn bomb a few of us did several months ago (on 16 November, to be exact). That it has survived this long is quite impressive. That it is still hanging as the snow falls is an added bonus.

Knit and crochet flowers and fish adorn this fence along the shoreline at the southern edge of Helsinki. Hopefully, along with the freshly fallen snow, they’ll brighten up the day for all who pass by. It certainly makes my day more cheerful, even if just viewed as a photo. Thank you, Andrea!

Where does all the snow go?

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This picnic table was completely buried by Februrary. This photo was taken in mid-January 2010.

For those who have followed my Facebook updates, you know that this past winter in Helsinki brought maddening and never-ending amounts of snow. We haven’t yet heard how much snow ultimately fell over the course of the entire winter for 2009-10. Suffice it to say, it was buttloads.

Upon our return from our holiday in mid-January, we were greeted with about 20-30 cm of snow. The snow kept coming. For much of the winter, we had more than 70 cm of snow covering the ground, with mountains of snow lining the roads and sidewalks and well…everything. It made the snowpocalypse that hit the Eastern US look like a few flurries. Through the end of March and into April, the snow continued to fall.

It’s taken the snow several weeks if not a full month for the snow to melt. It’s now the second full week of May and remnants can still be found here and there. The piles that grew to mountains as roadways and sidewalks were cleared are now almost gone. We have one remaining pile behind our building that at one point was nearly level with our windows on the third floor.

This got a friend of mine and I thinking: where did all that snow go?

As saturated as the ground is, there isn’t too much standing water around. The Cuban and I have seen some swamp-like areas in the forest around our flat. Yet, it’s amazing how the snow just seems to disappear.

Winter this past year was enchanting if not a little intimidating. However, spring is most welcome and just as beautiful.