It snowed here this morning.

Well,....I know it goes without saying but still,.....to say the climate is changing and that weather patterns have been erratic is an understatement. They had snow in Melbourne Australia, it was 65 degrees in Boston over Christmas and here in Sunny California we've had high temps in the low sixties and lows reaching the twenties.

For the past three days, as I stepped outside into the chill to take my daily walk, (a nice 2.5 mile route I've mapped out), I've ancountered huge patches of ice, frozen lawns and frost on car windows.

That's right. I came out to my car and there was frost on the windshield.

All I could do was stand there in dis-belief for a second as I thought to myself, "I don't even OWN an ice scraper anymore."

As a born-and-raised Bostonian you'd think I would be used to such things but after twelve-ish years here in Southern California, I assure you, it's a rarity.

The other day I was informed that the wax froze in the bins at the local carwash as well as a few of the intake pipes for my condo complex, depriving several units of water pressure until late in the day.

As common as these things have become lately, it was still with no small amount of surprise that I found myself in the middle of a damn respectable snow squall this morning.

Upon preparing to go out for my walk, I did the usual routine. I threw my shoes on, fired up the iPod and set the coffee pot for brewing, (so it's ready when I get back), and as I got to the door, spied a dark and steel-grey horizon, filled with melencholy storm clouds, (had it been summer, I would have suspected a good old fashioned thunder storm was a'-brewin).

As I threw the door open, the cold hit me as if I had dived head first into a freezing lake. It was a bitter cold,...chilling, and intrusive, the kind that takes joy in finding any bare spot of flesh or opening in your clothes as it seeps under with forceful insistance.

Memories of dark mornings and freezing nights in Boston suddenly welled up in my head and the voice of my old East Coast sense memory whispered,.... feels like snow.

Dismissing the thought as quickly as it came, I started out. I was about fifteen minutes in when the freezing hail started. As the tiny stones came down in a deluge, it created a steady, comforting rhythm as it rattled off of the ground and the trees.

Kind of like when you lie in bed listening to a rainstorm as it patters against the roof of the house while you slumber safe in the warmth of the covers.

Before I knew it, that great stillness crept over everything. The sort of pregnat pause that seems to be the forebearer of snow and as I stopped and looked around, I noticed I couldn't hear the bounce of the hailstones anymore, yet the downpour continued as silent and as elegant as a Currier and Ives print.

It was snowing.

Oddly enough, the entire neighborhood seemed to become completely deserted at that point. Perhaps everybody stopped what they were doing, looked up and became lost in the snow for a while as it continued with it's peaceful display, blanketing the rooftops and trees.

It continued for the remainder of the walk, and by the time I reached home, the familiar sound of snow crunching under my shoes could be heard with every step I took.

As often happens though, the snow soon turned to rain and by the time I could get my camera out, there was precious little left to be seen.

Though it was a beautiful and amazing thing to behold, and I am so glad I was outside in the thick of it when it happened, I am still left feeling oddly disconcerted. There's a lot of change happening across the globe climate-wise and I cannot help but feel this modest little snowstorm was a harbinger of bigger changes to come this year and beyond.

Winters are coming later in the year, Springs and Autumns are getting shorter and summers seem to brutally linger until October. With scientists predicting that 2007 is going to be the hottest year on record, I must admit, I'm fearful of what may lie ahead.

But for today, I simply enjoyed the snow.

Which is as it should be.