When we first moved to Birmingham, AL, people kept saying to us: “Oh, it never snows here.” This was always their response when they learned where we’d just moved from: Pittsburgh, PA. From lots of snow to no snow, or so we thought. Though it hasn’t happened every year, there have been a good number of little “Southern blizzards” as I’ll call them, during our time here. As luck would have it, January 17 was one such day.

Snow always means pictures, at least for me. Other than my time in Pittsburgh, I’ve spent my life in Southern California and in the South, neither of which gets consistent snowfall. When it does happen, I can’t resist the urge to document it. The above shot was taken in an office building I was in when it began to come down.

In the first hours that the snow fell, things were quiet and white. The world took on that glowing hue that happens when the light bounces off the fresh snow. I love that moment, when everything is soft and still except for the puff of falling, frozen water.

Scout, though, was less than enthused. She’s seen snow before, when she was a puppy, and would have been more enthusiastic if there’d been enough to run around and scoop up into her mouth. Our yard got very little though (we live outside the city, and it mainly hit there). Instead, she spent her time outside trying to figure out what was on her favorite blue ball (ice).

What a concerned face! She never could decide if it was okay to touch it in that condition or not. Poor dear. I couldn’t really help her; all I could do was laugh.

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