General

Yesterday the world was made anew, a new white-page with a nascent sun. I walked out with confidence into the snow, listening to the sound of my footsteps as they painted a pattern in my wake. Today the sun is just as bright, yet bringing more warmth than before. There is a crunch to the snow as the melt begins, the top a layer like icing - beneath is the slippery ice and the compacted snow. And so, whilst I enjoy the brightness and the crisp air, I am careful how I walk. Perhaps later the granite colour of the road will show through and the ice will be free-running water just the same as after a rain-shower. Until then I breathe deep, place each foot with care and enjoy this gift of winter.

General

The earth shone through the cold patches, life reclaiming it's right to breathe and be seen, to thrive. Soon the crisp white patches would become more thin and shrink, allowing the green shoots to return. Emile reached toward the coldness, feeling it give-way to her natural warmth, melt at her touch. She felt a smile grow, spring was close.

General

I was so proud of our snowman, standing there in a field of green. His time will come to feed the rivers and streams, but for the moment he enjoys the sunshine, one twig-arm reached upward, the other toward the grass and soil. He's smaller than he was, but you'd never know it. Snow melts that way, right? Gradually like a picture being changed one brush-stroke at a time.

General

When the melt comes to the mountains, it is the evergreens who show the season change first. Their white-winter coats are gaily swapped for deepest green and the ground-snow remains as glacial rivers for a time. A few more weeks and there will be rocks showing from the white, then the earth below. This is the time when the streams run full, when their life is infused with fresh water, pure and clean. Together with the birdsong, their watery percussion is the music of nature.