This is my kind of snow

Today's snow, which started last night with soft, feathery flakes falling silently in the darkness, is the kind of snow poets and lyricists extol. The light, fluffy flakes are stuck to every leaf and branch, coating every adornment like a thick layer of confectioner's sugar icing. The world takes on the appearance of a bakery's display case. Best of all, little has stuck asphalt, leaving roads mostly clear. Few travels will be disrupted by this snow, and the relatively high temperature, hovering just below freezing, and the lack of wind make it possible to go outside and enjoy this fresh decoration. My wife and I took pictures of the fluffy icing coating our plants.

In the past decade, this area has known a few winters when no snow fell, but this year is giving us an excess of snow (but not nearly so much as our neighbors a few hours to the north). For native southerners, one good snow a year is our custom. Any less, and

we're disappointed. Any more, and we lose our composure.

The storm two weekends ago left us with the worst kind of snow — wet and icy, with temperatures well below freezing, turning streets and sidewalks into danger zones. It made us pine for springtime. Today's snow is much more to my liking — a soft, silent blanket that cushions the winter and leaves the streets alone. And because it's coming on a weekend, few people have to risk their lives getting to work on slippery streets.

This is the kind of snow almost everyone, and not just the snow bunnies, can enjoy.