Is this winter’s last gasp? Big, luscious snowflakes fell briefly this morning. They fluttered past me like cabbage whites. The seasons mix. And I had already pronounced winter dead and gone. She knew better. She always does. Snow often falls on the earliest spring wildflowers, that’s the risk they must take.
In 1908, naturalist John Burroughs wrote, “One may brush away the April snow and find this finer snow beneath it. Oh, the arbutus days, what memories and longings they awaken!...Trailing, creeping over the ground, hiding its beauty under withered leaves, stiff and hard in foliage, but in flower like the cheek of a maiden.”
Burroughs' "finer snow," the white-flowered trailing arbutus he refers to grows low to the ground from Florida to the northern reaches of Quebec. Consequentially, it must be prepared for a little late snow.
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3 comments:
Thank you, Jennifer.
Perhaps you won't believe the fact that I have never seen snow. It dosen't snow in New Delhi though it does in other reigons of India. I've always had this fascination to see the snow and play with snow balls as we see in movies. When I read your todays post I felt as if I'm missing a very beautiful face of nature. I've been planning to go to hill stations like Shimla to see snow but have not been able to do so. BAD LUCK.
You blog reminds me of the beauty that is always around us, it's just that I was too busy to realize it.
Hello again Aby.
I really have been poking fun at snow the past few months in my blog because our winters here in the Tennessee Valley have become so mild we rarely get a honest snow anymore. And I miss it.
The best thing about snow, is walking in the woods as it is falling, especially if it is starting to accumulate. Walking through several inches of snow is otherworldly. Also, sitting under a tree and listening to the soft sound of the flakes hitting the snow already on the ground. Feeling the cold flakes hit your face and melt against the skin. The clean, wet smell of freshly fallen snow. Those kinds of sensations. Sensations I have not had in several years.
Someday, you'll get to visit Shimla and experience it. It's just something you have to look forward to.
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