Snowfall, Canal Park, Lehigh Parkway and Wallace Stevens
Trying to ascertain a single line of truth from a winter storm forecast is like expecting a lick of sense from Glenn Beck. Before our latest winter storm this weekend I had heard forecasts ranging from 2 inches of snow to the end of the world and the return of Elijah, give or take a foot. By the time the storm ended on Saturday morning there was an observable average of 6-8 inches of snow in the Allentown area. Alas, Elijah was nowhere to be found.
Down in the Parkway, a winter wonderland was easily found without any gaudy light displays.
I drove through the Parkway all the way to the second park by the new bridge. There was a significant amount of snow left untouched when I arrived there and the parking lot had yet to be plowed. I left my car near the bridge with CJ (who was snowed in my house) sitting inside it. He didn’t want to go tromping around in half a foot of snow. I sure did. I was pumped.
Leaving the Parkway, I headed to Canal Park. The road was drivable all the way past the train tracks and under the trestle bridge.
After that, the road hadn’t been touched. I asked CJ if it was a good idea to drive up the hill given that despite plowing, a truck had been through and left tracks I could drive in. He told me it was a dumb idea, and I agreed. I then drove up the hill anyway, parked (or rather just stopped) and got out to take pictures.
The drive around Allentown and the walks inside the snow deep parks made me think of a poem by Wallace Stevens which I am going to post here to end this one. This is a fantastic piece of writing.
Wallace Stevens- "The Snow Man"
One must have a mind of winter
To regard the frost and the boughs
Of the pine-trees crusted with snow;
And have been cold a long time
To behold the junipers shagged with ice,
The spruces rough in the distant glitter
Of the January sun; and not to think
Of any misery in the sound of the wind,
In the sound of a few leaves,
Which is the sound of the land
Full of the same wind
That is blowing in the same bare place
For the listener, who listens in the snow,
And, nothing himself, beholds
Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is.
Down in the Parkway, a winter wonderland was easily found without any gaudy light displays.
I drove through the Parkway all the way to the second park by the new bridge. There was a significant amount of snow left untouched when I arrived there and the parking lot had yet to be plowed. I left my car near the bridge with CJ (who was snowed in my house) sitting inside it. He didn’t want to go tromping around in half a foot of snow. I sure did. I was pumped.
Leaving the Parkway, I headed to Canal Park. The road was drivable all the way past the train tracks and under the trestle bridge.
After that, the road hadn’t been touched. I asked CJ if it was a good idea to drive up the hill given that despite plowing, a truck had been through and left tracks I could drive in. He told me it was a dumb idea, and I agreed. I then drove up the hill anyway, parked (or rather just stopped) and got out to take pictures.
The drive around Allentown and the walks inside the snow deep parks made me think of a poem by Wallace Stevens which I am going to post here to end this one. This is a fantastic piece of writing.
Wallace Stevens- "The Snow Man"
One must have a mind of winter
To regard the frost and the boughs
Of the pine-trees crusted with snow;
And have been cold a long time
To behold the junipers shagged with ice,
The spruces rough in the distant glitter
Of the January sun; and not to think
Of any misery in the sound of the wind,
In the sound of a few leaves,
Which is the sound of the land
Full of the same wind
That is blowing in the same bare place
For the listener, who listens in the snow,
And, nothing himself, beholds
Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is.
Labels: Canal Park, Lehigh Parkway
posted by Andrew Kleiner at
1:20 AM
2 Comments:
I will never underestimate a Chevy Celebrity ever again.
The silver bullet is truly a beast.
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