Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Snow

What is it that is comforting about falling snow? Writers describe "a blanket" of snow, but I think a down comforter is even a better image. Shred that comforter to pieces and you've got a winning image.

Either way, the point is that it feels good to be outside during a snow storm. Just as blankets wrap and protect us through the night, in its own way snow does the same. Rapid snow accumulation is always associated with cloud cover and sometimes with slightly rising temperatures. Even the snow itself acts like down feathers trapping Dead Air Spaces between intricate crystalline structures.



Those dead air spaces not only insulate us from cold winter temperatures but also dampen the noisy world that surrounds us. Snow effects sound in three ways: first, fewer people venture from the comforts of their homes, second the snow seperates rubber from griding away on sand, gravel and asphault, third snow sepia tones our auditory experience.



As with the mechanical sounds of man, snow also muffles natural sounds. A child's voice, a friends laughter, a simple hello, a crow's caw, even a furry companions whoof shifts in dynamic meaning when heard through falling snow. Think about an auditory artist adding a sepia layer, a blurring filter, or an auditory vignetting. Voices heard in falling snow drift into our ears laden heavy with auditory nostalgia.



The scrape of a metal snow shovel across cement and the sudden jolt when the blade finds a crack, carries as much winter time nostalgia as a cup of hot chocolate.

Don't you love winter?

Warren Miller said over and over that everyone needs to take one year off from their life just so they can be a ski bum. I think I need to take one year off from my life and move from Boise so that I can experience a "real" winter with snow all around from December through Feb.

One day Warren.

More after the jump...

Monday, December 29, 2008

Smokey

I think about Grandpa Beck every time I drive down State Street. How about we do lunch?




More after the jump...

Lowell Elementary




More after the jump...

Saturday, December 27, 2008

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Dog Walk

The Humanoids decided to welcome the first official day of winter, so they took us out for a blustry, cold, snow-drifting hike up Maynard Gulch. We busted through deep snow drifts, chewed on dead deer parts, scrambled up windblown ridges, and tumbled down steep snow covered faces.

It was fun.

Here is the Crew:

The Humanoids


Lisa


Leslie


Gary


Emily


The rest of us

Tally-Keetna


Annie


Birddog
More after the jump...

Friday, December 19, 2008