Winter’s going-away party

A snow dance.

Winter falls silently across the morning,
a blanket of snow stretches over the dreaming earth.
Unmarked paths of white wait in quietude.

(Originally written January 3, 2012 for my other, now seldom used, blog: Bountiful Healing.  If interested, you can find the original post here.)

Beautiful winter.

Winter held a party here on the lower Eastern Shore this morning.  Our weather folks weren’t predicting much, but I knew they were wrong and that today would bring our best snowfall of the winter.  Snow and I have an interesting relationship.  I know when it’s coming.  I can smell it.  I know that sounds odd, but it’s true.  It’s a talent that I didn’t need in the snowbelt of northeast Ohio because there, well, it’s pretty much always snowing in winter (and sometimes well into spring!).  But here where it rarely snows, I don’t take the snow for granted so I’m more alert to the change in the way the air feels and smells.

Juniper and snow.

I went out early to enjoy the silence (the quietude), the freshly fallen snow, and the beauty of what I think will be our last snowfall of this winter season.  The snow was melting quickly, so quickly that I thought at first it might have turned from snow to rain as the large drips fell fast and furious from the trees in the woods, plop, plop, plopping on my head and shoulders.

Melting fast.

As the wind picked up, clumps of snow fell from the trees with a muted crash as each mini snowball hit the ground.

In the woods.

Yellow-rumped warblers are still gathered at the back of the woods, keeping the red-winged blackbirds company.  Our resident pileated woodpecker, frequently heard but rarely seen, called out in his usual ascending wuk, wuk, wuk, wuk, wuk.  The echo that usually calls back in response was absorbed by the snow.

Falling off the pedestal.

I left the woods and made my way past the scrounger’s garden and out to the pond and meadows.

At the back of the pond.

I hardly notice the cold when it snows.  Occasionally the tips of my fingers will register it and I’ll flip the tops of my mittens back up to warm them.  The rest of me stays pretty snug and toasty under all the layers I wear.

Partying in the meadow.

I’ve been here for three years now, and I’m still learning the rhythms of the seasons as they dance through the woods, the meadows, the marshes, and the beaches.  It’s not as alien a world as it felt to me when we first moved here, but there remains much to experience and learn.  I suppose that would be true anywhere.  The seasons differ from year to year.  Winter can be mild or moderate or “the worst experienced in recorded history.”  There are polar vortexes and El Niño and La Niña and all the other vagaries of nature.  Even walking the same paths day after day for years, I find something new that surprises and delights.

Look how winter paints the landscape! The beauty of it almost takes my breath away.  (This one looks better in the larger version.  Just click on it to see what I mean.)

This has been, I think, a very mild winter, one that was somewhat difficult to adjust to as the weather flip-flopped back and forth from warm to bitter cold.  I’m grateful for today’s snowfall, and the chance to enjoy my favorite part of my favorite season.  Beautiful snow.

The garden fence and weather vane building in winter.

Thank you for dropping by today and joining me on another walk.  I hadn’t intended to post since tomorrow’s coffee chat is coming up, but I wanted to share this winter wonderland with you before it rapidly disappears.  I’m going to keep an eye on the sky this afternoon because if the clouds clear, we might see a magnificent sunset.  It seems as though the sun likes to make up for the clouds in winter by providing us with wonderful colors when it sets and rises.  Sunset is at 5:59 today.  If it looks promising, let’s meet at the Point where we’ll have a wider view than we would here at the dock.

In the scrounger’s garden.

Be good, be kind, be loving.  Just Be.  🙂

Almost in the flow.

Today’s joys:  Waking to a winter wonderland; a walk in the woods and meadows; watching the snow fall; the warmth of the wood stove when I returned from my walk; a cup of hot chocolate.