Let It Snow

It has been unbelievably snowy for the past few days. The clouds have constantly dropped bits of snow and refreshed the snow that’s already on the ground, but today has been a fairly consistent day of tiny flakes falling. It’s nice. We’re on the fifth floor (sixth if your counting in American) and it’s a beautiful view from where I sit.

I took the photo above when I was looking out the window and it was snowing. I’d heard playing screaming. It’s a little family of four playing in the snow. I particularly liked the mother running. It was sweet watching them. It felt a little creepy taking pictures, but it was for the blog. Honestly, officer, I did it for the blog!

Fred and I were going to go to the Center today and do a little walking around - and probably take some pictures as well. As the afternoon wore on, I called Fred and he said he would probably not be finished with work (I know - on a snowy Sunday afternoon) in time to get any day time walking around done, so I decided to venture out on my own.

I like these bikes. I saw a bike the other day that was covered in the fluffier snow we had a few days ago. It was an older style bike, cream colored, with a wicker basket. It had about two inches of snow on it. No one had touched it. It was stunning. That’s why I need to get a small camera that I can carry around all the time. Our other small camera is apparently “just broken” and can’t be fixed. Or it could be fixed, but it would cost more than a new camera. Anyway, the bike was so beautiful that I just looked at it and walked away. I went back today and it wasn’t as nice. This is a wetter snow and isn’t as fluffy.

This is so Amsterdam. A bike has fallen and no one has picked it up. And it’s been laying there so long that it’s got a coat of snow on it. It’ll be there until the owner comes and picks it up. Guaranteed. I once knocked over a bike out of meanness because it was parked in a stupid spot. I came back a couple of hours later and it was still laying there. I ended up picking it up. My meanness proved nothing. I apologized to the bike. (That’s just how I am.)

This is our statue covered in snow. I don’t know what this statue has to do with anything, but I like it. I just find it reassuring to live on a square with a statue of a naked man. To me it says, “You’re not in Texas any more.” (I don’t hate Texas. I just don’t want to be there.)

This is a snap of the brick road. The packed slush is about a centimeter thick. It’s not terrible to ride in because the bike wheel goes right through it. (But watch for ice patches.) A couple of weeks ago, I wrote that they don’t clean the streets and implied (or actually wrote) that they ought to clean them. I see now that that’s an impractical idea. This snow is completely out of the ordinary and Amsterdam (dare I say Holland?) doesn’t have the equipment. However, I maintain my stance that something should be done. In the photo at the top, the man (on the left) is standing in the sidewalk, which is completely covered in snow. That’ll be there for a while.

This feels very Dutch to me. If you know where we live, you’ll know that I didn’t go very far on my little walk. I had enough of being out there pretty quickly. I really like the blue in most of these pictures, by the way. I had to make myself go out, luring myself out the door with the promise of photos for the blog. I’ve been writing the official  lesson plans for English for my school. It’s a lot of copying, pasting and formatting. I wrote some introductory stuff, but I feel sure that no one is ever going to actually read it. They’ll flip through and ‘make sure it’s all there,’ but they’re not going to read every word. Still, it takes time and I want a clear plan for next year - and the end of this one.

I’m happy to stay inside and warm. I can look outside and get a sense of how cold it is. I’m perfectly fine with it snowing. This unusual weather won’t last forever. I want to enjoy it (in my own fashion) for as long as I can.