Off to town

Yesterday was the first day with such an abundance of snow people were not able to get out and go to work. Many enjoy the holiday, especially as it came right before the weekend. It snowed off and on all day and for the first time I was not able to finish my shoveling as I was in too much pain and it was coming down too fast, but almost!

This morning there is not one twinkling star to see, even though I'm up very early, as there is a blanket of clouds and the soft fall of snow continues. Only about 4 inches of fallen since I last cleared the deck about seven in the evening. The quiet stillness is soothing.

The sound of the snowplow breaks the silence a little after six. I can hear the slow steady whirling long before his beacon lights the hills ahead and then comes the strobing yellow flashes and I know he's getting nearer. He pushes on down the hill, the snow partying in his wake, building the berm ever higher. Then he passes out of sight to return in the other direction. This time it is the large yellow plow, not the smaller trucks fitted with a shovel up front. Then the morning peace returns to enfold me.

That the birds have now been using the new feeder, as the level of seeds has dropped considerably. At first, they would not go near it. The quail and the birds are pecking at the snow trying to scare up some buried seed with not much luck. I filled up a large pan that a flowerpot would drain into with seed and set it out in the snow for them and they came flocking to get their share. The gray squirrel is climbing the roof and trying desperately to reach the new feeder again. He also comes around the corner and peaks at me as if he is studying the human species. When I turn around he stares for a while then quickly out of sight.

Once the roads were opened up I had the opportunity to visit the big town with a friend so I gladly abandoned my driveway clearing for the day in order to have my snow pictures developed and have lunch at a new barbecue restaurant recently opened. I know the snow will still be there when I return, and it is, glistening in the twilight of the now clear evening sky. The constellations, planets, and moon are waiting to greet me, seen so clearly in the mountain of home. No new snow has fallen in my absence and my cats eagerly greet me out the door. I'm grateful to be home, in God's country.

01121997