Friday, March 8, 2019

Into each Spring, a little snow must fall!

We're through the first week of March. Today's outside temperature has reached 32℉ for the first time in a long while. Snow on the blacktop road is melting and flowing toward the ditches. Sometime next week we could reach 40℉. Between now and then we're expecting one, maybe two major snow storms. If the second storm isn't mostly snow, the flooding situation may become at least troublesome in a hurry.

not yet time for bud burst this year
not yet time for bud burst this year
Photo by J. Harrington

But, for today, which, in reality, is all we really have, one of the dogs walked us up to the pond north of the house. That's the first time in months either dog has wanted to go that far. It's amazing what a 40℉ increase in Winter temperatures can do for making outdoor activities more pleasant. The snow and ice cover on the pond is starting to collect snow melt puddles from the road ditches. Warmer temperatures may even encourage bud burst by the maples in front of the house next week or soon thereafter. If only it would stop snowing some day soon.

This morning was another baking day in our kitchen. Artisan sourdough came out of the oven about mid-day, shortly before we fed and walked the dogs. On a day late in the Winter, coming back into a warm house saturated with the aroma of freshly baked bread is one of the more pleasant experiences we've enjoyed in awhile. We hadn't intentionally scheduled the sequence of events that way, but serendipity brought them about. When it's much colder, as it has been recently, we're busy recovering any sense of smell so the pleasant smells of fresh bread are lost in a freshly frozen nostril or two.

how soon will we see snow melt flowing through the woods?
how soon will we see snow melt flowing through the woods?
Photo by J. Harrington

With luck, we'll all avoid serious harm or damage as we stumble through Winter's departing blasts and move toward Spring. There's more snow on our roof than we remember seeing ever before. That's to be expected at the end of the snowiest February on record around here, but it leaves us full of trepidation about what comes next. Stay tuned for further developments, many of which will remain highly temperature dependent. If it rains we flood. If it snows we ...?

Kyoto: March



A few light flakes of snow
Fall in the feeble sun;
Birds sing in the cold,
A warbler by the wall. The plum
Buds tight and chill soon bloom.
The moon begins first
Fourth, a faint slice west
At nightfall. Jupiter half-way
High at the end of night-
Meditation. The dove cry
Twangs like a bow.
At dawn Mt. Hiei dusted white
On top; in the clear air
Folds of all the gullied green
Hills around the town are sharp,
Breath stings. Beneath the roofs
Of frosty houses
Lovers part, from tangle warm
Of gentle bodies under quilt
And crack the icy water to the face
And wake and feed the children
And grandchildren that they love.


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