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

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?

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

By Gary Snyder

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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