a photo account of montclair, nj post-storm. all photos taken by my brother (since i was stuck here in the city).
new yorkers were encouraged to stay home today.
work was cancelled. the day was suddenly mine and free.
my family was only twenty minutes away in new jersey. however with the 20-24 inches of snow on the roads they were as good as across the world.
so i was snowbound. all by my lonesome.
and what's a girl to do when the day stretches long before her? clean, of course.
i scrubbed the stove. the inside of the fridge. i soaked the garbage and recycling cans (in the bathtub, no less). got down on all fours and worked away at the spots on our aging wood floors.
and when all was said and done i took a walk.
i felt how the snow changes the city. how a quiet takes hold. inundates everything, everyone. how when the snow settles, but has yet to be cleared the city takes deep, gasping breaths. reaching for the stillness, the calm. pulling it into itself. storing it away. reveling in the short time it is allowed to simply be. to exist. and when no one is looking--when they're shielding their eyes from the snow, or digging a car out of the snowbank, the city exposes its heart. for just one moment. it opens up, unfolds, unfurls. feels the electric cold against its great, naked nerve. and then closes again. recharged. ready for the next.
if you're really quiet. if you stand really still. and you get really lucky. you'll feel it--the reverberations of it--in your bones. and the heart carries on.