I love winter. For 35 plus years I have been a professional driver and dreaded winter. In June I was already thinking about winter weather being just 5 months away. Some years we have winter weather as early as October and as late as April. That makes for a looooong winter. This is my first winter that I have been retired from driving. In November I said I was done driving professionally until spring. Now, I almost wish winter would slow down. We could be tapping our sugar maple trees in a month or less. Yikes!
Even on the coldest of days the winter sun brings some warmth. It does not rise very high in the sky this time of year.
Early/mid January brought us lots of snow. Great for snow shoeing through the woods.
It is interesting to see animal signs in snow. Here are dig marks from squirrels looking for food.
Note how the deer scrape snow away to find tender morsels of food. Fun to watch until they get into the perennial garden.
Cold winter mornings are awesome for walks. Here frozen fog has formed on trees near the river. The picture does not do justice to the beauty.
We saw our first sapsicles of the year on a sugar maple tree just a few days ago. The temperature was just below freezing and the sun had been out so the sap ran a little bit and it came out of a break in the tree branch bark. What you see is the result. Later in February, sapsicles are our sign that it is time to get things ready for tapping the sugar maple trees for maple syrup making.
Winter beauty. For all its treacherousness, winter can be a time of awesome beauty as well.
Can you spot the deer bedded down in a little patch of woods at a very busy intersection? I saw it as I sat at a red light. I wondered how many people saw this deer as they hurried by. It is a good reminder for me to try not to "miss the moments" for love and laughter with friends and family. Hug 'em while you got 'em.
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