Monica Knits

GamesIt was overcast, but we had a few inches of fresh snow and our dog Shaq was having a blast running around the yard and jumping through the snow. I smiled and joined the fun--I made tractor tracks and snow angels! His exuberance reminded me of Heidi's antics as a puppy and the games my sister and I used to play in the snow. Dogs may not create snow angels or tractor tracks, but other of our childhood games were amazingly similar to the puppy's. Read more...

The first time Heidi saw snow, she was a six month old puppy and the snow was 6-8 " above her head. She tunnelled through a snow bank and under the light, powdery snow for about 10', did a U turn and tunnelled back. I watched her progress by the snow moving on top--she created mounds that looked like a giant mole path. I was ready to rescue her if necessary, but she had no trouble finding her way out and smiled and headed back into the snow. It amazed me how puppies and children invent similar games.

Heidi also used to catch snowflakes on her nose and tongue, and push snow around with her nose. As children, we caught snowflakes on our tongues, threw snowballs, and pushed snowballs until they were snowman sized. When my sister and I were 5 and 7 respectively, we lived on a northern army base where the snowfall was high enough that we created a series of snow tunnels in the front yard and played in them for hours.

Unlike Heidi's situation, however, the snow was not over our heads. If we stood up, it was only shoulder height, which reminds me of a Hagar cartoon. He is trudging through the snow with his son, and saying that the winters were much worse when he was a child. Hagar told his son that the snow used to be up to his shoulders and he was oblivous to the little boy's plight. He didn't notice the boy's head barely poked above the snow. I have never forgotten this cartoon and you won't hear me say the winters were worse, and the snow was deeper, when I was a child! I do wonder, though...

When we walked to school we wore snowmobile outfits over our school clothes and snowmobile boots over our shoes. To provide traction, we wore heavy woolen stockings over our boots, and another pair inside our boots to keep us warm. This must be a northern custom, or maybe the snow was deeper?

By the way, the tractor tracks reminded me of cables on the Cable Luxe Maxi knitted dress.
Cable Luxe Maxi - Overview (autumn/winter dress)
Cable Luxe Maxi - Part 2 (autumn/winter dress).