Snow

Last night, the season’s first snowfall was light to the touch, a soft carpet muting footfalls on the pavement. When struck by a shoe, it rose up in a powdery cloud, then  settled silently into shimmering mounds. It lay upon the trees like raiment.

Tonight it has changed, receded, hardened into crust and opaque patches of ice. Walking on it produces a loud crunching noise, rather unpleasant. One worries about disturbing the neighbors.

Tomorrow it will change again, as Saturday shovelers clean their sidewalks and cars. Metal on asphalt, plastic on glass: the grating, scraping sound will rise up to second floor bedrooms and summon people harshly from their dreams. Later the landscapers will rumble in with their blowers, clearing driveways with a deafening buzz that feels to the ear as if it were drilling through the skull.

In a few days or maybe weeks a rough winter rain will fall, clattering on the ice, and wash the last pieces of winter’s beauty into the storm drains.

Then, once again, we’ll begin listening for the gentle hissing in the bamboo and watching the street lights for tiny falling stars of snow.

 

Nature’s Reverie

Some pink and yellow roses are blooming still. Their delicate petals contrast poignantly with the robust red and orange berries peeking boldly out of shrubs. At midday the air is warm enough to invite the shedding of jackets. The light is pale gold.

Amidst the slowly drifting leaves, the staccato tapping of acorns, two cardinals chase each other, chirping and tweeting like mad. This afternoon it seems that all sorts of birds are flitting about noisily in the multicolored foliage: starlings, crows, sparrows, bluejays. It is thrilling to hear the sounds of spring in mid-October, although the excited twittering is a mystery. Are the birds settling in for a few more weeks–or making noisy preparations to leave?

Today, with seasons on display side by side, it feels as if nature is having a moment of nostalgia, or perhaps a dream of the rebirth to come when these days are a memory. It is magical, comforting.