carve

Sunny and cold. Looks like the nor'easter missed us this time. Much of the snow is gone. Bare patches appearing. Sun and wind can evaporate the snow without melting. Google says it's a process called sublimation, but old timers say that the sun and wind "carve" the snow. Blackbirds congregate in patches of open ground, looking for food. Shaggy horses standing in snow-covered fields--waiting.

Ice flakes sparkle in the sun on the sunny blue cold days up here; no snow, not a cloud in the sky, but little flecks of frozen moisture, tiny ice crystals like glitter, floating and sparkling. Breitenstein had said that when it's really cold these minute crystals collide in the breeze and make a faint tinkling sound, like chimes, like glass clinking, a magical sound.

Winter
Rick Bass