THE FIRST DAY OF WINTER

I walked three miles to work in the snow this morning and three miles back home this afternoon. I passed a total of nine trucks on the way to work and around fifty on the way back. The streets are mostly silent.


6:15 a.m.
Valley Avenue East.
All is quiet. Puyallup and Edgewood slumber.


6:18 a.m.
Automotive & Diesel Performance.
They perform engine and body repair. They also have a 24 hour towing service. They seemed to have plenty of business, even this early in the morning.


6:18 a.m.
Railroad tracks.
A freight train will roar through here in twenty minutes, the rumble of its engine and the shrill shriek of its whistle echoing up the hill.


7:00 p.m.
The crest of North Hill.
Almost there. Five minutes ago, I was barked at by two large dogs who wanted to be the only ones wandering about on the deserted streets. A rooster on a nearby small farm will crow in three minutes.


12:30 p.m.
The crest of North Hill.
Return trip. This is the same location as the previous picture, five-and-one-half hours later.


12:30 p.m.
North Hill Farm.
A tractor is clearing private driveways of snow one-quarter mile back.


12:35 p.m.
A North Hill farmhouse.
These people mow their fields for alfalfa. Their children are sledding on the farm acreage, screaming with joy as they fly down the hill. The smoke of fir and alder wafts from their chimney. The smell is faint in the cold, but welcoming, comforting.


12:45 p.m.
Looking down upon Puyallup from North Hill.
The city is buried beneath a blanket of snow. More snow is starting to fall.


1:00 p.m.
Near the bottom of North Hill.
I am almost home. I am trying to walk in the paths laced with tire treads that are only an inch of compact snow and ice upon the pavement, as opposed to the six inches of deeper snow on the shoulder. As trucks approach I move into the deeper snow until they pass. I will soon be home, ready for an afternoon nap.