Maker 2 - 2007
watercolor

Chilly days

We had our first serious cold front wander through. When I first moved to Texas we used to have longer chillier winters but not now. I remember my first snow flurry.... it was 19 degrees in San Antonio and I saw snowflakes tumbling down. I was so excited. My aunt couldn't understand why I was so impressed with a few flakes of snow. So when colder weather hits I often hope for snow. Last year we had ice storms which are beautiful but more dangerous. Austin drivers don't drive well in snowy or icy weather. We do fine in heat not wet. This year, because of the drought (we're down about 19 inches) everytime it rains, the water mixes with the oil on the street and creates goo that is pretty slippery. We get an increase in accidents because of it.

This one hit Austin on Tuesday evening and brought more sleet and icy rain than snow. I could hear it on the roof and outside on the bushes, making that hissing pinging sound that sleet and ice do. It gets so quiet when it does this here. I wonder though, where do the birds go when it sleets? Do they get cold feet sitting huddled among the leaves?

By the next morning my car had tiny banks of ice along it's windshield. I admired them as I walked to the bus stop. Everything else was just damp and darker concrete grey. The cooler bouts of weather have produced some beautiful colors of trees this year.