Warm Snow

The first snowfall of more than an inch came on February 13 this year, mostly before dawn. A fluffy blanket was on the ground by daylight. It kept coming down in the morning like mist, fine and moist. The rabbits and deer tucked up in the woods for the duration. Birds left tracks everywhere. Other than that, the snow was pristine before I walked in it, my feet touching earth, leaving deep prints.

Beside the dormant garden, echinacea seeds turned into snowballs.
My daughter photographed them among bramble canes.

She sent them to a friend with this message:
"Echinacea seed heads in snow, black raspberry canes glow, cedar and elm trunks shelter and lean. Slowly, surely, stubbornly Spring stirs. This is what I see, this is what I know of Love, Grace and Joy."

This morning the fog came down for a while, but the snow is already shrinking. It will sink into the soil when the sun comes out.
Spring will not be denied.