Writing in Snow

A Windy day in Las Vegas

Word count: 587

It is difficult to tell which way the wind is blowing by looking at the movements of weeds, trees or flower bushes. The boughs of trees appear to wave at you. They sway back and forth as if the tree is waving hello or good-bye but they give no indication of which way the wind is blowing. The stronger the wind the more they sway and the harder the limbs wave.

I am not sure that sway is the right word to describe the movement of tree limbs in the wind. I have watched the limbs of olives, oaks, and stone pine trees move in the wind. It is as if an invisible ocean wave is pushing against them and moving them as it flows around the tree and the limbs.

The weeds do a little dance as the wind blows them. They sway back and forth as if water pushes them. It is almost like a tide moving in and out across the weeds causing them to dance in place. The movement of the weeds gives no indication of which way the wind is blowing. The weeds move as the wind blows them, they bend and sway; some of them seem to bow as the wind blows across and around their green bodies.

It is easier to determine which way the wind is blowing by looking at the clouds, but only if you are standing outside. Inside, it is difficult to know precisely which way the wind blows. I look out the windows and I watch the clouds, but I do not know if they are moving west to east, east to west, north to south, south to north, etc. The clouds flow across the sky in groups or herds.

The clouds appear as herds of sheep moving from one pasture to another. As the clouds move patches of blue show through from time to time. It is as if, the sheep graze in one spot until they have eaten the blue grass and then moved on to another section of the pasture where the grass is easier to eat.

March came in like a lion and March is going out like a lion. Last night the wind sounded as if it were attempting to break into the house. The wind always makes unusual and haunting noises when it blows. We have a mail slot in the front screen door and the front door. When the wind blows the mails slots make noise. The slots have metal covers and when the wind blows the covers move and it sounds as if someone is knocking on the screen door.

The noise the mail slot cover makes always upset the cats. On a windy day one of the cats, usually Midnight, sits in the entrance hall watching the front door. It is as if he expects someone to come through the door, but it is only the wind blowing moving the cover to the slot through which the postal worker drops the mail.

The sound of the wind through the trees is the sound of water flowing. It is the sound of many voices whispering at the same time. The stronger the wind the louder the sound and the sound the wind makes is different when it blows through palm tree beards. I have not detected a difference in the sound of the wind through other trees, but the sound is different when it blows through palm trees then when it blows through oak, elms, or other trees.