Late Winter.

This is the hard time of winter. A breathe of spring wafts on the air, snow begins to melt and mud arrives. If you fall for it,and you will,  it will hurt you. The cold will come back, it always does. And you will feel like a friend has disappointed you in a bad way, betrayed, crestfallen, almost to the point of tears. Some days it does bring you to tears.

This winter started out mild, gave promise with snow, but still it stayed warm. The lake didn't freeze like it should, and people died because of it. For 4 families it was a very bad winter.  Then the cold came, and with it ,the wind. Then a thaw, and rain,halving our snow.

The last two weeks it snowed every day. Not much, but no sun, wind and snow. Tempers got short, and the look on people's faces told the story. Enough. We've had enough. We want warmth, bare ground. Green.

I have noticed some holes opening in the ice, My road is getting muddy. No birds yet.

And yet, I love this time of year. It's still cold, and can be brutally cold, along with snow. But yet it holds promise. It frustrates, it taunts. You understand patience, you need it. Real bad.  Snow as it begins to melt, collapses under your weight, it soaks you, it wears you down.  Let it melt, it needs to follow it's design, and wait for cold, it will come.

We drift back and forth from sun to clouds & snow. But the dirty snow on the side of the roads belies the fact that Spring is coming. People are tapping their maples, it's sugaring season.

The other day, it rained, snow depth has dropped, then it froze. It's this warm to cold that I love. To hell with the rest of winter, give me late winter, early spring. I say that now, and come next fall, I will be waiting for winter, and marveling at its beauty, it's cold. The clarity of light, the harshness of it's storms, the chance to recoup and rest.