It is enough of an unusual occurrence, snow falling, for its possible appearance to be announced as a "warning" in the forecast. Two to five centimeters are predicted. The actual wording of the weatherman was "today and tomorrow and possibly on the weekend", so I assume this means that much each day. Yesterday a woman from Environment Canada was interviewed on the radio about the weather and any attempt to pin her down as to amount of snow that might fall was met with the statement, "this is weather to watch". Apparently two unusual fronts are about to become chummy.

Well, I was listening to this as I stared at the hummingbird making a succession of visits to its nectar feeder, the nuthatch chipping away at the peanut offerings and making its usual talking-to-self noises punctuated by the exclamation shrieks, the wind still as if waiting on something…. And I did a mental check: snow shovel had come up out of basement a month or so ago when snow was mentioned; it was not needed for the seven flakes that actually fell but is still housed beside the frig; I know where my winter boots are; the car was not left down on the road after our early morning outing but is under cover in the garage again. And the pair of snowshoes I bought at a garage sale a year or so ago, with the memory of the HUGE amount of snow that fell here in 1996 suddenly springing to mind and motivating that acquisition, are in the laundry room. Am I ready or what! It's not really cold out and that is my biggest barrier to any weather.

I hope it doesn't snow – it's a nuisance and it makes people cranky and reckless. But Vancouver is in the midst of a storm the radio is just now telling me and that 'pond' between us isn't very big. Oh lord, the announcer just said "Victoria can expect 25 centimeters." I wonder if that hummingbird owns a scarf.