Late spring snow -- early fall snow

On Valentine’s Day in 1996 I was having dinner with a man who worked for the now defunct DEC. When we came out snow had accumulated on the ground for the first time in my three years living in the city. I was thrilled to see it.

When it snows at 500 meters or above, it usually rains in Geneva. The few times it does snow the city filled with drivers from warm countries becomes a massive parking lot as those unaccustomed to manoeuvring their cars slip and slide.

I do remember a few Sundays during an eleven year stay sitting at my kitchen table looking at the château across the street as snow coated the grass and trees: coated, nothing substantial. I could count the few on one hand and have fingers left over. Hot chocolate tastes better when it is snowing outside.

Last year there was snow a good part of the winter compounded by ice storms. The last storm happened April 17th, a time of year when flowers are in bloom.

This morning I woke to about five inches of snow. It stopped early, although I had lunch with a friend who is in the middle of a move from Gstaad. The moving men are taking double the time to get to her place because it is still snowing in that region. The news is reporting 250 accidents.

Lunch in an auberge in this little Swiss village overlooking fields and mountains was a little bit like those jigsaw puzzles I did as a kid. Outside workmen were putting up tents for the Christmas marché tomorrow. It was postcard perfect in the snow.