This week we got the first real snow of the season – from tiny flakes in the morning to 10 cm on the ground. It’s fascinating watching the world change over the course of a few hours. It was especially interesting given that we have a puppy who had never seen snow before.
Our last dog was a rescue from Colombia and never acclimated. Was not a fan of going outside in winter. We were very hopefully that this one would at least not hate it, at most would enjoy a good play.
We were outside together in the morning and he didn’t really seem to notice the flakes falling, so I decided to take him out to the backyard later in the day when we had an accumulation. I would say that at first he was very confused. He stared at it, tasted it, tried to catch it, and dig a bit of digging to make sure the deck was still there.
It’s fascinating, because our first puppy was born in November, so snow came first in terms of outdoor experiences, and our baby was born in January, so snow wasn’t ever this new and exciting thing – No, I can’t say that, there was always excitement.
Snow covering the landscape is a rebirth, just like the melting in spring. It’s a total change of mindset. You have to dig out the winter coats and wear real shoes – this is, honestly the hardest transition for me. Having to wear socks and boots instead of just popping on my sandals.
And now we have a puppy who loves nothing more than going into the closet to grab some socks he can toss around and chew on.
I am hopeful about this winter – and not just because we have a vacation booked and I get to spend a week away from the cold, sitting by a pool and reading book after book. In recent weeks we have made things easier for ourselves. For me, part of this has been removing myself from social media. I occasionally post on Bluesky and Instagram and very, very rarely on Facebook, I’m not scrolling them constantly or getting angry about things the way I used to.
I am turning back to pen and paper, she says, unironically on a blog.