obliterated

it's snowed some every day for the past three days, and the view outside now is completely white, with snow billowing off the roofs and low clouds to the south attesting to more on the way. It's properly Arctic, and yet still I was out in it barefoot and in a bathing suit last night. I adore the pools here.

As I did my laps beneath the gently falling snow yesterday evening, each turn of my head for air gave me a snatch of orange nighttime snow-sky, and occasionally my intake of breath was accompanied by the tang of a caught snowflake before I plunged under the velvet water surface. Swimming in snow was prickly on the arms and my exposed shoulder, encouraging me to swim more quickly so I could keep rotating through the warmth in the water. I don't know if it's the temperature or the low chlorine here but the water last night felt especially delicious and smooth as it flowed over my face and along my legs.

Last night the pool was very empty of others, with only about six pairs of shoes lined up in the locker room, but that's what I liked best about the evening. After the chaos and full-capacity seating in the eimbað during the short hours at holiday time, it was nice to have the peace of evening pooltime back. Sitting in the heitur pottur after my swim, I lay with my face towards the sky, watching where the steam from the pool mixed with the falling flakes, and listened to the chortles from the old men in the next tub. Somewhere, maybe in the guard tower on the opposite side of the pool, a tinny radio played just loud enough to hear above the snowbound landscape. Beyond the protective berm near the lap lanes, the roads of the neighborhood were muffled and quiet, and these few sounds within the pool enclosure stayed low, trapped by the clouds. It was quiet and cozy there, watching the flakes and the occasional errant firecracker that sparkled in the sky. Will I ever not find snow enchanting? The freshness, the mystery and muffling, and the unexpected swirling are still remarkably distracting.

It's also so fascinating how snowstorms here change their mind so quickly. In spite of the recent stormy weather I've also seen spectactular sunrises and blue sky since the storms don't ever sit over us like the weather we had in Boston. Currently it's become sunny again in half my view, while the other still swirls with falling snow. It's hard to stay focused on work when I never know quite what I'll see when I look out the window, and I never want to miss a single glorious sun-edged cloud highlight. There is just so much to see.