Cultivating Hope by Linda K. Hubalek

Author:Linda K. Hubalek
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: historical fiction, pioneer woman stories, Swedish immigrant stories, homesteading, frontier and pioneer
Publisher: Butterfield Books Inc.
Published: 2016-01-20T00:00:00+00:00

1880—Building Snowflakes

FIRST ONE, THEN TWO. The snowflakes slowly increase in number. We have no wind this morning, so the flakes gently float down to stick to the earth. The dormant trees and shrubs are cold enough that the snow is stacking up on the twigs instead of melting.

Winter is starting late this year. We have had cold spells but no cumulative amount of moisture to go with it. It looks like this soft snow falling today will be the first to completely cover the ground this season.

I lift Esther up into my arms and point at the snowflakes drifting past the dining room window. Last year she was not old enough to understand snow, but this year she is. She looks out the window, then back at my face. Esther knows the words ‘barn,’ ‘cow,’ and such, but doesn’t understand ‘snowflake.’ Her little face looks puzzled as her mind tries to remember an animal that might be called by that name.

Four-year-old Teddy slides up next to us to peer over the windowsill. What is Momma pointing out to his little sister?

“It’s snowing, Estie! They’re angel flakes!”

He has only seen a few seasons of the winter white, but he remembers what it is. In a flash, his little hands have opened the door, and he’s outside twirling around in the flakes. We peer out the open door at his antics, and Esther laughs at her silly brother.

The best way to learn is to show, so we waltz out into the downfall, too. I hold her hand out to catch a flake. She flinches as it hits, but then realizes there is no weight, just a touch of cold before it is gone. Esther lifts her face to the sky. I imagine she is thinking, “What is this stuff that is falling in me?”

Teddy pipes up, “The angels in heaven sprinkle snow on the earth to brighten the brown earth after harvest. It makes things grow next spring.”

I had forgotten this story we had told Teddy to explain why snow falls from the sky. He was so full of questions last year that we started making up stories to keep him entertained. Goodness, how will he explain a blizzard to his sister? I can’t remember our answer to that question.

By now a few flakes are sticking to my hair. Esther reaches to touch them before they disappear. Instinctively she holds her fingers in her mouth after feeling the moisture. I stick out my tongue to catch a flake, and she mimics me. She is amused at her new discovery and squeals with delight.

Our last twirl left me facing the house. It dawns on me that I finally see the old house illustration I had hanging in the dugout. We finally finished the house this fall, and I’m still not used to seeing the new front porch painted.

It has been two years since we started adding on to the house. The two-story addition on the north more than doubles the size of the original frame house.

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