the miracle of snow

If you live in Maine or Oregon or one of those Yankee Frozen Tundra states, this photo won't look unusual to you. Snow. Yeah. So what?

But this photo was taken on December 25, 2004 in Metairie, Louisiana (a suburb of New Orleans). That's my Saturn -- now 13 years old and still hanging in there -- all covered in snow. Not sleet or ice, actual snow. That's me getting snowed upon. That's the last time I saw snow in the New Orleans area.

They tell me that it's snowing there today, that the snow stuck enough that the ground looked white in some places. Snow in New Orleans, in Baton Rouge, in Austin has always seemed like a small miracle to me. It's a pain in the ass and I can't stand driving in it, so I don't actually yearn for it to happen. But when you look outside and white stuff is falling quietly from the sky, and the kids across the street are scraping bits off every car in the vicinity to try to make a snowman ... it's unreal and rare and beautiful. Enjoy.