I miss winter. I miss the hush of winter
mornings, the soft lavender shadows the sun casts on a landscape
of wind-driven snow. I miss the chickadees that cluster on our deck,
awaiting their turn at the feeder. Such polite little fellows they are, hopping
on the feeder to fetch a black-oil sunflower seed and immediately flitting away
to crack and eat it.
Photo by Kathleen Anderson-Gray
I especially miss snowshoeing on Minnesota’s Superior Hiking Trail, a 310 footpath that runs from south of Duluth to the Canadian
Border. Easily accessed in any season from our house, the trail in winter was
always an adventure, especially when fresh snow offers a glimpse into another
world. Then the journey through the deep woods becomes a constant discovery …
the tracks of snowshoe rabbits, red squirrels, pine martin, and sometimes moose
and wolf the only sign of passage besides the tracks our shoes make.
Kathleen
Anderson-Gray is a North Shore friend who sends a daily photo she’s just taken. I can
almost feel the crackling cold of those winter mornings even though I’m here in
Florida for the winter. Kathleen recently sent me a photo that reminded me of
one winter hike I took when snow and ice clung to branches like crystallized
circus animals on parade, a giraffe, a sitting lion, even an elephant. Topped
by a soft covering of snow, they resembled lace cookies baked in the woods.
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