"First" Snow

First Snow

~Mary Oliver~

The snow
began here
this morning and all day
continued, its white
rhetoric everywhere
calling us back to why, how, whence such beauty and what
the meaning; such
an oracular fever! flowing
past windows, an energy it seemed
would never ebb, never settle
less than lovely! and only now,
deep into night,
it has finally ended.
The silence
is immense,
and the heavens still hold
a million candles, nowhere
the familiar things:
stars, the moon,
the darkness we expect
and nightly turn from. Trees
glitter like castles
of ribbons, the broad fields
smolder with light, a passing
creekbed lies
heaped with shining hills;
and though the questions
that have assailed us all day
remain — not a single
answer has been found —
walking out now
into the silence and the light
under the trees,
and through the fields,
feels like one.

~ excerpted from American Primitive ~

Although this is not the first snowfall of the season, nor certainly the last, Mary Oliver's words describe the scene to the tee.  We get to take this day, this Snow Day, to be drawn into the beauty, awed by the power she has to influence our lives, and grateful for the connections and resources we have to take care of ourselves and each other.  So, bundle up, get out there and celebrate The Day it Snowed a Million Snowflakes Plus One!

Action shot of yesterday's snowstorm as seen from the Farm House kitchen window.

Good Morning Snow Day!

Trail tales on a fresh snowfall are the best.

Mocha and Pippa utilizing the early deer trails in lieu of snowshoes.

Through the woods.  Where's the trail again?

Espy the Homestead up the creek.

And the Red Barn under the Sun and through the forest.

Mocha blocking the mouse trails I was interested in.