The Excitement of Snow!

We all knew that yesterday morning we would awaken to snow, thanks to the weather reports. Our first real snow of winter. We got a little dinky one awhile ago, and here you never know if you’ll get another.

This is a good one! Beautiful, deep powder. What a transformation from dry ground the night before. For some reason, it’s also the slickest snow we’ve experienced here. Strangely, it isn’t great for sledding. But if you’re walking around in it on any kind of incline, you’re going to thunk your skull a few times if you’re not careful.

We found out later that our neighbor, who had gone out for her COVID vaccine, slipped on her driveway and broke her wrist when she got back home. That was where all of the emergency vehicles were going when we were walking into town. Ughhhh.

You really appreciate the sight of snow when it’s a rare occurrence. Here’s a little montage, in case you haven’t been in snow on Orcas, with a few “normal” scenes peppered in for comparison.

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Those icy chunks up there are at Crescent Beach, if you can believe it. Looks like Antarctica.

I spent the entire day outside, after several days spent lying on our bed in sciatica pain. I knew the snow was coming, and I hoped I wouldn’t have to crawl through it.

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Snow here is always such a unique and beautiful experience. We and a lot of other non-Subaru-driving residents can’t get out of our driveways when it snows, so some of us “villagers” were making our way to town on foot to see the sights and buy some grocery essentials.

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It was really peaceful out there. It was such a nice departure from all of the heaviness in life right now.

This is Michael Honke.

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He’s an Authentic Life Counselor here on the island. He and his wife moved here four years ago and he spends part of his time doing tele-therapy sessions and part of it building their home. I met him as we were both photographing the beautiful scenes through town.

As we were talking, several trucks skated through the intersection without traction. Two even crunched into each other one block up. Every big burly truck I saw yesterday ended up skidding frictionless at one point or another. The only cars with solid traction were the smaller, newer ones and the Subarus.

Speaking of sliding, this is fellow parent, Mr. P.

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As he was driving down the steep hill from his house, his small truck suddenly swung around, and he careened down the rest of the hill sideways, hoping no car was coming when he reached the main road. He almost dumped over sideways when he hit level ground, and luckily no other drivers were around.

This is the view at the top of that hill.

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And this is Mike Stolmeier.

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He and his wife, Sue, moved here from Iowa 36 years ago with their 5, 9, and 14 year olds. They had visited a relative here and fallen in love with the place, so they sold their business and made what he says seemed like a crazy move. If they’d stayed there, he says they would have made a good living; being here, they’ve had a good life. This is his property overlooking all of Eastsound and Fishing Bay. On a clear day, he can even look through the trees and see the buildings where he and his wife live and run Smuggler’s Cove at North Beach.

It was so nice to meet new people in this fleeting terrain. I passed Dave, Kelsey, and their 11-years-young dog Izzy from Seattle several times.

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They happened to book a short stay here a month ago not knowing they’d end up seeing Orcas Island in a wintery way that only locals usually do. They were making the most of it, as was the couple who passed by in snowshoes across from Brown Bear Baking. When do you ever see that? My husband just read that cross-country skiing at sea level is a right of passage. Yes. If you’ve snowshoed through Eastsound, you’re one of a kind.

Back home, it was hard to go in. Fortunately, we awakened today to the same thick-snow scene and more beautiful flakes drifting down past the window. It hasn’t started melting yet!

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There are more scenes to come when we’re all done playing in it. It will all be gone in the blink of an eye, so I hope you’re enjoying every minute!