Yesterday was sunny with temperatures above freezing for the first time in many days. It is snowing again right now. They are talking about rain this afternoon and then it is expected to be snowy and cold for the forseeable future. The quality of the snow continues to be basically perfect, no slush or ice.
But here's the thing, we have been living in the world of winter, day after day. It's like being on an endless loop of a beautiful ride at the Winter in Vermont Theme Park. I don't know how to get off.
A little over a year ago, a friend gave me an amaryllis. A bud appeared some days ago. It grew from nothing to over two feet in height in a matter of a couple of weeks. It seemed that you could almost see it growing.
It has four blossoms which I guess is unusual. I can't even get them all in the same photo. Our poinsettias pooped out this year, and I can't remember the last time I've seen colors manifested so vividly. It is heartening to see the zest for life expressed so forcefully at this time of year. It can also be observed in the cries of the chickadees and in the activities of the foxes and coyotes and many other living things. The living exclamation point.
It is in midwinter that I sometimes glean from my pines something more important than woodlot politics, and the news of the wind and weather. This is especially likely to happen on some gloomy evening when the snow has buried all irrelevant detail, and the hush of elemental sadness lies heavy upon every living thing. Nevertheless, my pines, each with his burden of snow, are standing ramrod straight, rank upon rank, and in the dusk beyond I sense the presence of hundreds more. At such times I feel a curious transfusion of courage.
December
A Sand County Almanac
Aldo Leopold
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