OWL-DRAGON

Last Snowfall Run

A late winter snowfall can be very beautiful. When I went to bed last night it was raining but morning showed a street scene already covered with a wet slushy snow. I was anxious to get out on the trail for this last snow run. Because it is a wet snow all the branches are covered and sharp edges have disappeared. This is a soft snow not the hard granular snow of January but big soft flakes drifting down. The path is very wet – in one spot hardly different from a shallow stream. The heavy snow bends branches down into the path blocking the way but I learned that with a soft shake the snow drops and the branches unburdened rise like a toll barrier. I found myself shaking branches even when I could get around just to see them rise. The woods remind me of what it must have looked like to Lucy when she went thru the wardrobe into the frozen world of the White Witch. I quite liked it this morning but could imagine how it would be if spring never came. The quiet is only broken by distance traffic sounds. Running is not too bad except on the uphills where the slushy snow gives little purchase to my churning legs, but a shorten stride soon takes me to the ridge and a really gorgeous view of the snow covered valley where the stream stands out as a black ribbon thru the stark white. I wish I could linger in my snowglobe but it is already late. I wouldn’t be surprised if next week as the temperature climbs toward 60 these woods are already greening with spring.