Thanks to weather.com, I knew it would snow the day after I landed in America and was quite prepared to step out into a winter wonderland in the morning.

But when I woke up it was brilliantly sunny. Knowing that the snow and sun are unrelated I looked out of the window to find the roads dry and black . It seemed that the weather forecast was wrong.

However, at 10 in the morning N our host who had invited us to dinner sent a message saying that since it was going to start snowing at 7, we should pre-pone the dinner to high tea and meet at her place for night .

As afternoon deepened the sky turned grey and still , almost like a monsoon sky but different – with a kind of heaviness behind the grey.

Then at 6. 30 our host announced that the snowfall had begun . I wanted to take a photograph of his deck that looked enchanting with the white frosting on his patio furniture , the trees dotted with snow and the soft, powdery flakes dancing gently to the ground.

But I was more concerned about the drive home and wanted to reach home well before the snow mounted up.

Half a mile into our journey we came upon a traffic hold up with three cars ahead of us, stopped and waiting for no apparent reason because there were enough cars coming from the other side of the road.

After what seemed like an eternity the car immediately behind the first car, overtook the stopped car. The next car was hesitant to move and after another eternity followed suit . Luckily we could move along but it was scary trying to drive with the snow falling on a road that was downhill and in complete darkness save for the lights of the cars.

Thankfully we reached home safely.

I’d quite forgotten the snow. A chance glance outside found me captivated by these footprints.

Whose were they I wondered as I saw the trees covered with snow .

Though snow is not new to me , driving in snowfall was a first for me . What a lovely ending it was to a magical day.