Winter Comes; Winter Goes

It's March, and winter is coming and going as it pleases. Temperature rises, rain arrives and the snow melts; temperature falls, it snows again and the world turns back to white. It's wet snow, so it sticks to every twig and turns the woods into a fantasy. But when the rain arrives, the driveway turns to ice. And in between is a sunny day with heavy hoarfrost in the morning, as in these pictures.

Meanwhile, spring gets ever closer. The days are much longer, and the sun, higher in the sky, is warm when you're walking. I heard a report of merganzers on a local pond yesterday, and today is the traditional day when I always watched for the robins arriving back - though we've moved a little further north now, so I may have to wait a few days.


At least here the snow stays white and we don't suffer the ugly brown snowbanks, much and slush along the roads. The hope here is that snow will stay around long enough to allow skiing over March Break. With rain today and tomorrow it's going to be touch and go this year.



Unfortunately the good snow-shoeing and cross-country skiing seems to have ended for the year, though we may get a day or two more if we get a big snowstorm. You need to make good use of the real winter in January and February to get your share of beautiful days outdoors.