We had a lot of snow this winter. It started in earnest with a surprise snow squall during a morning commute in January. I generally listen to podcasts as I drive around the state, but that morning I turned on Glenn Gould's iconic 1955 recording of the Bach Goldberg Variations, and felt the music flow around me as I drove through the snow.
By February, the snow from weekly (often Monday) storms was piling up in our driveway. For the most part we shoveled the driveway ourselves. We are registered for a half-marathon in April -- neither Amy nor I have ever run that far -- so the exercise was welcome (although the winter conditions made road running a little complicated.)
We had an extraordinary number of weeks when we could cross-country ski in the woods behind our house. We continue to extend our apologies to all of you who were unhappy with all the snow; some of us really enjoyed it.
Amy was particularly vigilant about using the roof rake to take the snow load off the house, and minimize ice dams. But almost every home owner we know had water coming in the house at some point. (Jon and Alice, we hope your bedroom ceiling gets fixed soon !)
Finally, last week, most of the snow melted away in a series of warm days and rainstorms. The winter aconite, started from a few plants given us over 20 years ago by my grandmother, bloomed all over our back garden.
The deer had a tough time finding food this winter, with so much snow cover; by last week they seemed quite happy to forage in our back yard.
Today I slept late. When I woke up, came downstairs, and greeted Amy, I had to ask: "Did I sleep until December ??"
Still Spring persists and will have its day. Even on cold mornings there are flocks of birds loudly calling to each other in preparation for nest-building and mating. Ah, well ... this last bit of white will soon melt, not to be seen again until next December !
