Fog at daybreak, and a thin coat of sleet like coarse sand. From up in the woods, the sudden squealing of a squirrel fighting off a suitor.
I think it’s partly because the...
I think it’s partly because the hillside is covered with evergreen laurel that this phenomenon of a white ground still seems so surreal.
Tagged mountain laurel, snow
3 Comments
Five degrees above freezing; a steady...
Five degrees above freezing; a steady tap of meltwater on the porch roof. Crows. A blue, eye-shaped hole in the clouds eases shut.
Deer have been eating the wild rosebush...
Deer have been eating the wild rosebush again, and the yard is a maze of rabbit tracks. The fog lifts for a minute, then returns.
Tagged cottontail, deer, fog, multiflora rose
2 Comments
The dark-eyed juncos flock to the two...
The dark-eyed juncos flock to the two dark wounds in all this white: the plowed road’s bare stone and the thin, quiet trickle of a stream.
Tagged juncos, stream
2 Comments
Fresh, deep snow on all the outstretched...
Fresh, deep snow on all the outstretched branches at the woods’ edge—those trees that have always hungered for an extra helping of light.
Tagged snow
3 Comments
Cold—the porch floorboards pop...
Cold—the porch floorboards pop under my feet. Real snow at last! The rising sun stretches two faint fingers across the driveway.
Tagged cold, snow
10 Comments
Each blanketing of snow so far this...
Each blanketing of snow so far this winter has happened while we slept. How superstitious to insist that it all must’ve fallen from the sky!
Trees rock and sway, infiltrated by...
Trees rock and sway, infiltrated by snowflakes flying this way and that. From deep in the lilac, the wandering warble of a tree sparrow.
Tagged snow, tree sparrow, wind
1 Comment
Cold rain drips in the pre-dawn darkness...
Cold rain drips in the pre-dawn darkness. The wail of a locomotive sounds frighteningly close and full of an obscure, mechanical longing.
