ensconced inside walls of glass and wood, a human-scale snow globe, the world outside awash in white. flakes falling steadily: sometimes heavily, fat and lacy, thick in the damp air. sometimes urgently, more granular, staccato pellets rushing to meet the ground and clattering against interfering windows. sometimes en masse, so dense that the scene fades to ice, snowflake curtains blotting out houses, trees, parked cars, lampposts. inside, we cozy up. steam swirls up from mugs