Snow Day

I awoke to an alarm shattering the 7:30am stillness, pulling me from sleep’s embrace.

Stubbornly tuning out the noise and retreating into my pillows, I stole 7 more minutes of rest from what I soon discovered was a morning blanketed in snow.

The shower beckoned, and I tumbled in to begin preparing for the day’s adventure. 

Emerging steamed, shaved, washed, and conditioned, I went to my phone to check in with Elyse, my ceremony guide. We’d spoken the evening before under threat of snow, confirming our plans for the coming day. But despite our efforts and intentions, Mother Nature had her own agenda for Tuesday, February 4th 2025.

Between Elyse’s dogsitter coming down with the flu and being unable to care for Haida, my steadfast desire for our ceremony to take place in The Cabin with the cats, and the state of the roads, we postponed for two weeks’ time.

With the day taking a turn, I chose to proceed as if the ceremony were still happening. So I brewed a cup of lemon ginger tea, journalled—for the first time in years—then slipped onto my yoga mat to open my body and centre my mind.

As part of the ceremony’s preparation—a kind of purification—I hadn’t had coffee since Friday. So with two weeks to go now, I woke my espresso machine from its slumber, pulling a shot before heading out for a snowy walk’n’talk with Elyse over the phone.

When I returned, I had a message from Erik with some observations on Cannabliss, to which I was inspired to ask: “You wanna smoke a rose paper joint in the snow?”

There’s really only one answer to such a question, which Erik knew: “I’ll be there in 20.”

Again though, the roads. So I turned on my snow-loving Subaru to pick him up, taking a long, meandering route back to enjoy slipping, sliding, and donuting through the empty, unplowed back roads. 

(I love driving in the snow—which is part of why I picked this car, and the few days per year where I can indulge that love bring so much joy.)

Upon returning to The Cabin, I set about preparing coffee and joint while we spoke of small things, enjoying the presence of Yuki and Katsu (Part One, Two, Three).

Stepping out into frosty air amidst gentle flurries, we carried on speaking of small things, sipping our brews, passing the joint… And casually preparing snowballs with sly looks in our eye, pretending we weren’t aware of each other’s actions.

One, two, three snowballs each whistled wide of one another, before I had the odd notion to place a snowball atop the stake I attach Yuki’s tether to, thinking of making a small snowman—which Erik swiftly winged a snowball at, prompting a game to break out which we simply called ‘Ball on a Stick’. 

Turns out, trying to knock a snowball off a stick from across the yard is no easy task, but Erik eventually managed to ‘bounce’ a ball off the ground and into the stick—to which I responded by bouncing a ball off the ground smack-dab between his legs. 

Erik may have won the battle, but I daresay I won the war.

Fingers-turned-icicles slipping into painful territory, we ventured inside for warmth, sustenance, and to watch a recap of last weekend’s World Rally Championship season-opening event in Monte-Carlo. Talk about Awe-nyjoment, those lads are insane—perhaps the most insane drivers in all motorsport.

After delivering Erik safely home, I returned to my yoga mat, intending to sink deeply into my tight side body and upper back, with great success. Seeking a moment of quiet before proceeding with my evening, I laid in bed with my Kindle, accidentally buying a book that had come up during my chat with Elyse, Existential Kink.

(How this was an accident: I meant to read the sample before committing, but apparently my subconscious already knew—and one-click purchase made this an easy mistake. Anyway, I’m only through the introduction and prologue, but I think this may be the book I didn’t realize I was looking for. The ideas aren’t new, but are presented in a way that finally resonates.)

While reading, I stumbled on a sentence that triggered a spark of intuition, a wave of understanding, a solution to a writing obstacle I’ve been wrestling with for months—regarding my Psychedelic Awakening project, slowly stirring back to life.

Which is when I realized I had to capture the story of February 4th’s Snow Day.

What a day. What a lovely day.

With love from the forest,

~ Alexander