Pre Christmas and First Snow...

Time to leave for the sunny south. Here is the first snowfall on the hilltops of Saltspring Island as seen from my window. It's a harbinger of future slush, future snow shoveling, future ferry cancellation, future Malahat pile ups, and future dreary days in the temperate rain forest of the Pacific North West.
The good news of course is for skiers (at least the ones who do not get lost in out of bounds avalanche country as a few of them were this week). Mount Washington, a little known skiers' paradise on Vancouver Island boasts right now 2.60 meters of snow, that is close to 10 feet, an none of it put there but by the grace of regular winter weather.
A bit of trivia...Mount Washington, near Comox and Courtenay, prides itself of accumulating the deepest snow and powder in the country, and counting a couple of competitors, in the entire world (Antarctica excluded of course).
Located on a high ridge as a back bone of Vancouver Island, it allows - on a sunny day - incomparably grandiose views toward the gigantic Coastal Mountain ranges of British Columbia, across a blue expanse of Georgia Strait sprinkled with dozens and dozens of small Islands. Not too touristy, as being on an island Mount Wahington is less accessible to the numerous herds of ski and board bunnies than Whistler for instance. That is a well kept secret of the Islanders, as prices remain reasonable, slopes relatively empty, and conditions absolutely paradisaical.
Little Saltspring, with it's excuse for a snow topped mountain does not compare favourably...
On my little mountaintop, my house is belted ceaselessly with a deluge of slushy blobs falling with the sound of dried peas onto my skylights. Rivulets on the drive way, the balcony, the patio...shiny raindrops glitter beside glimmering Christmas light-bulbs.
Ravenous finches, junkos, towhees, flickers and chickadees haven't arrived at a cease fire over the offerings of the diverse bird feeders yet, and the garden deer in their grey winter pelts forage forlornly amongst the flowering winter heather and the half rotten leafs of the apple tree.
Christmas around the corner...never mind all that 'holidays' and 'seasons' business...and neighbours squeeze Christmas inspired house visits into a time span of a couple of weeks to spread Christmas cheer and comment on our beloved North West Pacific RAIN...and more rain, and some more, again....
One dreams, one plans, one pays the piper, one packs, one leaves for milder climes...oh blessed state of retirement.