Cold and silence. Nothing quieter than snow. The sky screams to deliver it, a hundred banshees flying on the edge of the blizzard. But once the snow covers the ground, it hushes as still as my heart.
Laurie Halse Anderson
Dec 22 2022 The snow started falling Thursday afternoon. Just a few flakes at first, small and scattered. Then gradually, it became a steady flow. The air was white, and I had just finished gathering food and supplies for the holiday weekend. I had nothing else I needed to do, so I settled Into a chair in the back room of my house with a big window facing the woods and watched birds flocking to the bird feeders there.
It’s like they knew a storm was coming.
A tufted titmouse under the feeder picking seeds up from the ground.
A male Cardinal looking at me sideways.
A giant blue Jay trying to decide if he can trust his weight on the feeder or if he should scavenge from the ground (he tried both, but spent more time in the ground).
By Christmas Day, over 10 inches of snow had fallen and wind made freezing temperatures harder to bear, but it all felt like an adventure, bundling up and trekking through the woods.
A frozen stream running through the back woods.
I wonder if the snow loves the trees and fields, that it kisses them so gently? And then it covers them up snug, you know, with a white quilt; and perhaps it says "Go to sleep, darlings, till the summer comes again." Lewis Carroll
My footprints were the first, even before the deer this morning. The snow blanketing every little thing made snow creatures out of twigs and ivy.
A little lamb…
A reindeer…
Christmas Day was a little warmer than the previous few days, and the squirrels, who had been hiding up in their nests, came down to get some food beneath the bird feeders. This little black squirrel is shivering while he eats.
A Cardinal in the hemlocks - he almost looks as if he’s posing for a Christmas card.
Ivy. How did it end up here, lying above the snow and not buried underneath?
What fire could ever equal the sunshine of a winter's day?
Henry David Thoreau
Tuesday morning after Christmas, the sun returned. It filtered through the trees in pinks and purples at first light, then set in a blaze of fiery glory in the evening. It looks warm, but if you look closer, there is ice forming on the lake.
As I write, the temperatures are rising, the snow is melting, and I feel a little sad to see it go.
Snow days are something really special. I love the feeling of being outside in it, walking, running, hiking, or working - shoveling snow, sweeping it off the decks, re-filling the bird feeders, getting really really cold… and then coming in to a warm house, a hot cup of te and a good book.
I hope you are having a wonderful holiday season and are enjoying whatever weather you’re experiencing! Happy New Year, too. See you next Friday.
