First snow!

We drove back through Switzerland on Fri and it looked as if there was a sprinkling on the tops of the mountains that wasn't there 2 weeks previously when we drove to England!!

Ooh, hope that's not too ominous.
We are going to Switzerland in January for my birthday. The trip includes the glacier express. DH very excited, bless him.

Please don't send it this way just yet Greatnan!

You will certainly find snow in many parts of Switzerland in January, and some already have it! I am sure you will love the views from the Glacier Express, just wrap up well!
No, I don't want to send my snow anywhere - we rely on the skiers here in Haute Savoie! If we don't get enough snow forecast, they tend to go to the higher resorts.

I used to love snow and then a few years ago I went on a snow shoes walking holiday in E Europe when we walked every day from morn till night in thick snow. One day it snowed all the time and it was very cold.

That experience rather took away the mystique for me.

I'm another snow lover. My dogs are so excited by snow, that every walk is a total joy. They are both hairy dogs, so I cover their legs in vaseline, in an attempt to stop snow balls forming. They love being in a warm bath when we get home, soak the snow off, then it's a big feed and a sleep for them. It once took me 6 hours to do a 30 minute drive from work - the snow just came down in an unusual way. It's a pity we can't be more geared up for snow in the Uk, bug we don't get the extremes of weather that would justify the investment needed (I suppose) Sounds stunning Gnan

I know what you mean, Patallus - I tried cross country skiing last Winter and my hands practically froze to the poles, even in ski gloves with inner gloves. It put me off trying again. I don't actually walk on the snow much, I just sit in the bar at the foot of the pistes with a hot chocolate and watch the skiers flying past. However, there is no doubt that the mountains are spectacularly beautiful when snow-capped.

Friend of mine who lives further north says there is snow on the hills north of Inverness today too.

My dog in the snow story is quite sad , well not really, at the time it was also hilariously funny. As a child in Scotland I had a Cavalier King Charles spaniel (called Hamish) . He was a bit of a big girl's blouse and didn't get the hang of cocking his leg for years so he used to do girlie wees. One day he went out into the garden (in the snow) and failed to return.My mother called him over and over again without success and eventually tracked him down from his plaintive yelps and cries. He had "squatted" in the snow, the wee had melted it BUT it had frozen again on his long coat and, not to put too fine a point on it, he was caught by the long short and curlies!!

Ouch, the poor wee dog!

I love watching big, soft, fluffy flakes falling - preferably from behind a double glazed window. It's quite mesmerizing.

London Snow
By Robert Bridges 1844–1930 Robert Bridges
When men were all asleep the snow came flying,
In large white flakes falling on the city brown,
Stealthily and perpetually settling and loosely lying,
Hushing the latest traffic of the drowsy town;
Deadening, muffling, stifling its murmurs failing;
Lazily and incessantly floating down and down:
Silently sifting and veiling road, roof and railing;
Hiding difference, making unevenness even,
Into angles and crevices softly drifting and sailing.
All night it fell, and when full inches seven
It lay in the depth of its uncompacted lightness,
The clouds blew off from a high and frosty heaven;
And all woke earlier for the unaccustomed brightness
Of the winter dawning, the strange unheavenly glare:
The eye marvelled—marvelled at the dazzling whiteness;
The ear hearkened to the stillness of the solemn air;
No sound of wheel rumbling nor of foot falling,
And the busy morning cries came thin and spare.
Then boys I heard, as they went to school, calling,
They gathered up the crystal manna to freeze
Their tongues with tasting, their hands with snowballing;
Or rioted in a drift, plunging up to the knees;
Or peering up from under the white-mossed wonder,
‘O look at the trees!’ they cried, ‘O look at the trees!’
With lessened load a few carts creak and blunder,
Following along the white deserted way,
A country company long dispersed asunder:
When now already the sun, in pale display
Standing by Paul’s high dome, spread forth below
His sparkling beams, and awoke the stir of the day.
For now doors open, and war is waged with the snow;
And trains of sombre men, past tale of number,
Tread long brown paths, as toward their toil they go:
But even for them awhile no cares encumber
Their minds diverted; the daily word is unspoken,
The daily thoughts of labour and sorrow slumber
At the sight of the beauty that greets them, for the charm they have broken.

Nice poem, Greatnan.

I like Kate Bush's album Fifty Words for Snow which is strange and atmospheric.

Going to visit daughter in Innsbruck, Austria on Saturday for 3 days to celebrate her 40th surprise birthday party, any one got a weather update, need to know what clothes to pack ?

If you google 'weather forecast for Innsbruck' you will find several sites. It is looking quite good for next week, about 18C.

Yes. Lovely poem. Must be something to see St Paul's under fresh snowfall. I remember being in London about three years ago, when it had snowed heavily. Of course it had all turned to lethal compacted ice and brown slush by the time I was there.

Schoolboys don't change do they?

Stopping by woods on a snowy evening , byrobert frost is one of my all time favourite poems. But I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep...
it used to sadden me in MK that it would snow and the children would stay indoors.

Jess, I often recite that poem to myself as I walk through the forest here. The woods are lovely, dark and deep............just sums them up.

Oh! The Robert Frost one! Very chant-able!