A Winter to remember...

The snow fell before the ground froze this year. At this point, I don't really remember when we had our first snowfall. It's the beginning of January (08) and the snow has been on the ground for a while. It was a white Christmas. It may have been a white Thanksgiving. I do know that I have been cross-country skiing pretty much every day in wonderful powdery snow for forever. This is a rare treat!


This past week, the kids were home from school as it was the end of their Christmas/New Years break. It snowed twice this week. I had just cleared the driveway of about a foot of new snow with the tractor and the next day there was another foot of snow! I made a nice snow mountain for the kids and they've been enjoying the vertical drop (and subsequent youthful rush) to the hard, snowpacked driveway. They land with a thunk and slide into the snowbank on the opposite side laughing. I'm sure their plastic sleds will end up getting busted up but then that's what makes it so fun. They looks so cute (I despise this word!) in all their snow gear. We have one pink and one black marshmallow. The only skin you see are their faces, aglow with that winter blush, colored by the fresh Maine air and the excitement that comes with playing a dozen different ways in the snow.

This winter has brought with it a classic, timeless beauty. The pines and firs green boughs painted white with snow. Packed snowy roads that force you to drive slower and see winter's magnificence. Significant snow banks to catch you if you do slip while driving. Ten inches of snow, carefully balancing on top of rail fences and on the railing of our deck.



The hearty little chickadees that flit to and from our feeder for sunflower seeds. On the branches of the fir trees they sit all puffed up to keep warm and twitter to each other, probably about the weather.

I love to cross country ski. I hadn't done it in over 15 years as I was living in a place where it rained a bit. Last year, I bought new cross country skis and I went out once. There really wasn't much snow last winter. This year, I have been out most every day. On most occasions, I am skiing in wonderful powdery snow; the days and nights being cold enough to preserve the texture.

Sometimes, I follow deer footprints. At first, there were three of them wandering about and now I really only see one set of tracks. They paw down through the snow to nuzzle green grass and clover that I planted a year ago. They also know the one apple tree that holds it fruit through winter and dig through the snow looking for downed apples. The snow around the base of this tree is trampled with all the animal feet that visit. I regularly knock a few brown, shriveled apples off the tree with my skipole. The deer aren't the only ones to visit this apple tree. It's a regular watering hole for most of the animals that don't hibernate. I see tracks for Snowshoe Hare, Chipmunks and/or Squirrel too I think. The deep snow has made it difficult for lots of the critters to get food but they somehow manage. It's easier for the smaller ones as they can move across the surface of the snow or underneath it. The deer have a harder time postholing thorough over two feet of it. It amazes me that in the heart of winter, one tree can help support so much life, even as it sits deep asleep waiting for spring to arrive.

I marvel at the quiet that I hear sometimes. I like to listen. There's a skidder clearing somebodys trees in the distance or sometimes begins the hum of the milking machine at a close by dairy farm that tells me it's four o'clock and time to begin wrapping up my adventures before dark comes. I ski mostly in the afternoon. At times there is no noise. I am careful to stop and listen a few times so I can savor the quiet when it comes. How often do we hear complete silence? It is another rare treat. Cold winter air carries the sounds of activity. Just as easily, the snow can silence; especially falling snow. Millions of little flakes to absorb noise. If there is no wind, you can hear the flakes hit the ground. How cool is that?

Yep.... this IS a winter both to remember and to savor. How delicious!