snowpack

icy crusty snow still lies across the yard and down into the woods. no bare patches yet. difficult to believe spring is only two days away. a satisfying melt is under way, though, as first persistent rain, then some determined sunshine, and then temperatures in the high 50's (wow, i'm sweating!) warm the sleeping earth and turn the cold white ice crystals clear. the melting droplets seep down, down into the snowpack, deeper, deeper, racing toward the brown dirt which waits hard and silent and thirsty for spring.

onto the dark, frozen ground the nourishing moisture falls and is greedily sipped by the slowly awakening earth. there exists under the seemingly silent snowpack in reality a roar of activity which announces spring. audible only to nature's ears, the ground below the snow lustily breathes in the warmth of sun and rain, and the seeds and roots of renewed life tingle and stir with excitement and start to grow under the white that was winter....