Yesterday was a brilliantly-lit, blue skyed day with fresh snow that seemed to be too pure to tread on, as you see here.
These scenes brought to mind the outdated saying that someone was “as pure as the driven snow.” I thought that the simile was mistaken – that it should be “as pure as the UNdriven snow,” because we all know what happens to snow after vehicles have had their way with the precipitation. But, then I looked up the origin of the saying.
The saying has been used at least since the late 16th Century. It’s actually a comparison to snow that has been carried by the winds and driven into untouched, white drifts. Being “as pure as the driven snow” meant that you were chaste and otherwise unsullied. It often was used to describe young females who were (or who were thought to be) “untainted” by sexual relations. As I said, it’s outdated. (Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on January 17, 2024.)