Winter has been over the top this year. Someone told me that this is the most snow we have received here and the most snowfalls we have had since people starting keeping track of these conditions. There has been so much ice that it has been dangerous to shovel the snow off of sidewalks in places because the grit of the snow preserved a little traction. The kids and I walk many places downtown, and I am tired of wading through slushy puddles and snowdrifts, tired of wet cuffs on my pants and the cold shock of snow getting into my shoes when the drift was higher than anticipated.

One thing I am not tired of though is the beauty of the snow. We had yet another snowfall late this afternoon and evening. Huge fluffy flakes floating down to coat the granular snowbanks. The tree branches are coated with sticky, fluffy snow shining in the moonlight. I should be bored to death of snow. Instead, I was reaching for my camera a little while ago to try to capture an image of the snowy trees in the night.

There is a privacy about it which no other season gives you.... In spring, summer and fall people sort of have an open season on each other; only in the winter, in the country, can you have longer, quiet stretches when you can savor belonging to yourself. ~Ruth Stout

I know spring is coming; I can feel it in my bones and in the energy of the earth. I know that there cannot be too many more of these snowfalls coming. So I will savor these even as I am tired of them. Even as I curse the slush and heating bills, I will enjoy the beauty and the time that they give me for quiet reflection. This winter has kept us shut in more than usual, hibernating. Is that really such a bad thing?

Let us love winter, for it is the spring of genius. ~Pietro Aretino