Snow Day!!

Snow day!! At 4:45 this morning I was a little confused to see the voicemail icon on my cell phone, but that robo-call voice has never sounded sweeter. I went back to bed until 8:30. It was glorious. That may not sound very late, but compared to 4:45 (when my alarm went off) it is a spectacular time to wake up. I had some sweet potato chips for breakfast and decided to finally find this Little Sugar Creek Greenway that I keep hearing about. I cut through neighborhoods to King and Morehead, where the Greenway picks up with that clock tower thingy in the middle of the intersection. Then you go under a bridge.

There was a large, chattering bird flying in front of me down the creek for a little ways. He'd swoop low over the water, making a lot of noise, then swing up to a branch for a few seconds. Then fly down again, fuss at me, then find another perch. I wish I had a better lens. He looked like a kingfisher, but I thought they were more blue. Thirty seconds of Google Images when I got home revealed that he was, in fact, a belted kingfisher. Who knew.


I followed the Greenway until I got to Freedom Park, and then cut back up Queens Road West and walked home. (It occurred to me, as I neared the end of my walk, that I probably should get in shape if I intend to hike any part of the Appalachian Trail this summer.)




It was a beautiful way to spend an hour of my morning. Walking through the neighborhoods all the sounds seemed muffled. Kids were shouting to each other in their backyards but they all sounded far away. There were a few cars slushing through the streets, but only very few. And when you go out for a walk in a snow storm ("storm" is used loosely here, but I'll call it whatever the locals want to call it), everyone you run into seems to be extra friendly, because they've all decided to go out and walk in the snow too. I said hello to two men on bikes and a couple dog walkers. And as I walked past a woman standing at the end of her driveway, she said to me, "Amazing out here, isn't it? I'm surprised more people aren't out!" I agreed with her. I also saw a man on cross-country skis, which looked more than than a little ridiculous given that this is Charlotte, not Chicago, but he gets some points for dogged determination.

We have a "work at home" day tomorrow, which means I'll do a little planning, and then enjoy snow day number two. This diet thing sucks. These are the kinds of days I should be going out to eat, or reading a book and drinking coffee someplace. Thursday can't come soon enough.