Snow!

A perfect day in Asheville with a lifelong friend -- lunch at The Laughing Seed, a stroll through Kress Emporium, a quick trip to Mast General Store followed by shortbread at French Broad Chocolate Lounge, and shopping at Two on Crescent, Trader Joe's, and EarthFare -- culminated with a nerve-wracking surprise: snow.

Don't get me wrong: I love a beautiful snow, and this was a beautiful snow. But a beautiful snow swirling and vortexing and blowing fiercely one way and then the opposite on the night before departure, requiring a drive through mountains, . . . well that's not a snow I can embrace.

But I can embrace the eerie snaps from inside my friend's warm home.