Mother Nature, hold on just a little bit

THE OLYMPIAN | • Published October 30, 2009

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Well, the first big snowfall of the winter - although the calendar tells me it's still fall - is dumping onto the Cascades.

Was it really still summer just a few weeks ago?

Now we’ve got snow at 3,000 feet and above, and all the highway passes over the Cascades are white, for now.

The skier/snowboarder part of me is ready for all this, but other parts of me are not.

Those parts are still wallowing in the best fall color I’ve seen in my 14 autumns here in South Sound. That cold snap a couple of weeks ago tripped a signal in many trees, and the oranges, yellows and reds are just electric right now.

I went for a walk around my block late yesterday afternoon, and the leaves glowed in the soft sunlight.

Leaves and sunlight will be in short supply around here in a few weeks, so I’m trying to enjoy these moments of beauty – and not think about the weeks of fog, drizzle and damp chill ahead.

Living in the moment – while hoping and working for a good future – seems like the only sensible way to navigate life.

I guess I could worry that we’re going to have another snowy, icy winter, just like the one we finally escaped sometime last March.

I got kind of tired of lowland snow and cold – and watching drivers slide sideways down the hills of my Tumwater neighborhood.

But the skier/snowboarder part of me is hoping for a winter of heavy snows in the Cascades.

I logged onto the Crystal Mountain Web site – www.skicrystal.com/The-Mountain/Webcams – Tuesday morning to check out the snowfall, and the webcam made it look like the hill was ready to open.

Of course, it’s not.

One foot of snow looks good from a distance, but a ski hill needs three feet or more just to cover up the little fir trees, big rocks and ankle-grabbing brush.

And there’s a great chance that we’ll get another shot or two of warm weather during the next couple of weeks, and all that mountain snow will melt.

I feel kind of like Berkeley the black lab, who will chase his tail when he has to wait for life’s small pleasures, such as jumping into an icy river for a stick.

I want a few more weeks of warm afternoons and crisp nights. I want more time to watch the gold and red leaves flutter onto the ground.

I want to walk through a small orchard and see fat, sleek deer stuff themselves with windfall fruit.

I want just one more sweet, small swell to surf at Westport.

I just want more warm sun on my back during lunch.

But I also want to hear snow squeak beneath my feet. I want that half-second of feeling weightless when I tip my snowboard down a steep slope. I want to see snow build up on green Douglas fir trees, and then slide off in a sparkling cascade of ice crystals.

I also want to see Steller’s Jays rattle around in bird feeders, and big rafts of ducks gabbling away on Capitol Lake.

I want to see snow falling into the gleaming glow of a streetlight. I want to see winter moss growing on streamside alder trees, and the brilliant silver of a winter steelhead finning in the green-tinged, glassy stretch that builds up just before the river tumbles into the fast, broken water.

I want to walk a coastal beach during the falling tide and dig razor clams as the sun turns the western horizon purple and red.

I want to see that little rim of ice along my favorite trout streams. I want to drive up to the Summit at Snoqualmie after work and ride the snow under bright lights.

I want thick, rich stews and soups simmering on the stove, and friends and family walking in the door to share a meal.

I want to see the kids throw snowballs.

I want the three months of winter, in a few weeks.

Chester Allen: 360-754-4226

callen@theolympian.com