Back in MA, it's my second complete winter I believe, I missed the last two being in Hawai'i for most of the cold. Our son is five now, which means that he wants to kick every last bit of snow he sees on the street, and wade through every single pool of melted snow bank that has managed to pool itself in the middle of the street, or at every intersection. This is understandable since he just arrived yesterday and he was at the beach just the day before. I mean, he just can't help himself, now can he?!?He's the only kid I believe who hit the playground after school saying "I want to play!!!" although not one child was left, except this boy who was squatting in the snow, hunkered down under an umbrella waiting for one of his siblings. I pointed out to Hi'ia that there was no "play" going on, everyone having left to go home.Today it was a really nice 35 degrees outside. I say nice because 35 isn't really that cold compared to last week's negative degree wind chill temperatures and wind that turns your bones to ice. ugh. I listen to the crunch of my boots in the snow and wonder how I would talk to Hi'ia in Hawaiian about the sensations he is experiencing.Snow crunches, it hardens and ices, and when it does that it is supremely slippery. When it snows people salt their front walks so that the snow melts, some people get out their shovels and shovel the snow out of the way creating a place for folks to walk. When there's a lot of foot traffic, the ice gets packed down and hardens in places creating very slippery conditions. When a pile of snow is tamped down by people going past, like it was today, it gets really slushy and it's the contact from when your boot hits the top of the slush and it splooges out to the point where your foot actually contacts the red brick stones that you have another chance to slip and fall.I forgot all this---experiential phenomenon---so that i was a bit late to pick up Hi'ia, even though I left fifteen minutes early to pick him up at school. All your muscles work in the snow, from propelling your body forward in the cold, to the kind of control one must exercise in order to keep oneself upright and not fall. It's quite a cardio workout for sure.I dropped one of my leather gloves after Hi'ia and I got off the bus. After we had a cup of cocoa (for Hi'ia) and coffee for me, we backtracked our steps and found my sodden glove hanging from a bush. When you lose something here, usually an article of clothing, a scarf or glove or hat or baby shoe, folks tend to put them up at hand or eye level so that if you come back the way you came, you will generally find what you have misplaced.So snow....I'm looking for snow words...haukamumu: crunch-y snow. hau anu cold snow, hau hehe'e slippery snow. ukele is slush, primarily because of the sticky nature of the slush, but really it's a lepo kine word isn't it? "kele?"''o ia wale no-e.
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