As I suspected, our driveway is a glittering, sun-soaked sheet of ice this morning, camoflaged only slightly by a quarter inch of snow on top of that treacherous ice (oh, joy!). This is what happens - even if you clear away the snow - when freezing rain is followed by more snow and cold temps. The scene outside is so pristine and silvery that I almost hate to muck it up with sand and salt. Almost. As much as I appreciate the frozen landscape, it's nevertheless necessary to go out - and the temps don't look to be rising significantly above freezing anytime soon. News stations were reporting some black ice on the local roads earlier this morning and especially last night, but between the road treatments and the sun, travel is fine now, except possibly on the most remote roads.
For the first time since the infamous October 2011 Halloween storm, our garden is blanketed with snow. As Amherst's resident poet Emily Dickinson wrote to Louise Norcross in 1861, "My garden is all covered up by snow; picked gilliflower Tuesday, now gillflowers are asleep. The hills take off their purple frocks, and dress in long white nightgowns." To be perfectly honest, I wouldn't know a gilliflower if I tripped across one (feel free to send photos if you grow them), but the sentiment resonates just the same.
Enjoy the sun while it's here - another snowstorm arrives on Saturday midday and continues into early Sunday, bringing along with it another 3-6 inches of snow!
No comments:
Post a Comment