This morning we went out to find the yard was completely white and cold and something fluffy and sparkly was coming down from the sky. It crunched beneath my paws and when I lifted them, they were sparkly and kind of wet. Lily just walked in her usual way but I could see her paw prints behind her. She went out to her usual spot as if nothing was different. I tried to jump from paw print to paw print but her gait was longer and I ended up with a face full of white by the time I reached her.

Lily looked at me out of the corner of her eye. “Folly Molly” she said as she kicked back her feet and sent more snow into my face. Oh! SO COLD! “What is it?” I asked as I shook off my face. Lily turned to go back to the house. “Snow,” she said and went up to the door to be let in.

Inside, Mum was humming and singing under her breath as she bustled about the kitchen. There was a large pot on the stove, already steaming and crackling. Lily lay down behind her – away from her path between the stove and the sink. This was not close enough; I could hardly smell the new smell coming out of the pot. “Oh!” cried Mum when she almost toppled over me. I’m surprised this doesn’t happen more often; it must be hard to stand upright all the time.

As we waited, I realized that now I was wet. The same kind of feeling I got from that awful thing, rain. I stood up on Mum’s leg hoping she would pick me up and dry me in the big green towel. Sure enough she knew just what to do and swept me up, finding the towel and patting me until my fur was soft and dry. Then she put me on the floor and went back into the kitchen. Lily said, “Oatmeal” in a mysterious voice. It seems this snow makes Mum boil a big batch of Scottish oatmeal, the old fashioned way (sits on the stove a long, long time), then puts it in the fridge to scoop out a bit, every morning, for breakfast. Lily licks her lips. When Mum makes our breakfast, she puts a tiny bit in our dish with our food. It’s warm and different but I can hardly taste anything as I gobble it up. Now my tummy is warm and I feel like taking a nap though it is still early.

Later, Daddy and Mum put on lots of warm clothes and take us out to play. The ponds are empty now and most of the leaves are buried under the white. The snow is white and comes down from the sky in millions of bits, sparkling on my coat for a moment, and then changing into wet. My tummy gets wet AND cold. I don’t know why but I LOVE IT! I decide to hop, hop, hop in and out of the blanket of snow covering the leaves. Lily also thinks this is grand. She chases me and dances around me obviously enjoying this wonderland. She pushes through the white, making paths though she says things are the wrong way round, now, since Rudy used to make the paths for her. I tell her it’s not so bad; that even I can make a path (if I run it a couple of times) and maybe I can be the new path-maker for her. She tells me that this is Minnesota and that I haven’t seen anything yet. She tells me the snow often gets much higher than a corgi. She juts out her chest and pushes through, walking deliberately but every so often breaking into a series of hop, hop hops herself. I hear Daddy laugh and say to Mum “Our aliens are back, see the markings?”

Afterwards, we come in and get dried off and Mum sits on the floor with us while we snooze. After a while, Lily looks up from her place next to Mum and says she will make the paths; maybe not as good as Rudy but that I am young and strong and will be able to make use them just like she did.

I think she is coming around.