Snow Day

If I knew how to paint I think I’d know how a painter feels in front of an empty canvass. Fluffing the bristles and imagining what is about to happen. My empty canvass is a field, freshly blanketed with 11 inches of spring snow so wet you could wring it out like a wash cloth. I know its 11 inches. I measured I know it’s soggy. I shoveled. I know how the artist must feel. A sculptor uncovers what’s hidden in stone. A painter fills empty space with cobalt blue and burnt-umber beauty. My kids and I will turn this blank canvass into a snow fort, a snowman family and a half dozen snow angels. Then it will be time for cocoa with marshmallows, like tiny snowballs, melting too soon. It’s a snow day and oh, the possibilities. Jeff Hildebrandt © 2005