I am in love with the outdoors. The feeling of standing with
snow below you, blue sky above, the sun in your face, and wind and birds in
your ears is easiest to describe with the feeling of strong love. It’s overwhelming,
inspiring, and completely uplifting.
The past several months, I have spent a lot of time outdoors
observing and exploring the activities of the woods in the winter. A short walk
through the woods can be completely silent, but the fresh snow tells so much.
Deer bedded here last night, the turkeys found more leaves to scratch to, the
fox was about again, a mink has been exploring the stream, a pack of coyotes
travelled through, a mouse scurried from one log home to another, the squirrels
are still running everywhere. And occasionally you get to catch a glimpse of
another creature sharing the forest with you at that moment. A deer scared by
your footsteps in the crunchy snow running along the top of the next ridge, a
blue jay calling your arrival, an owl swooping away from his pre-dawn branch
above the road, a chickadee puffed up to an absurd size to hide from the wind.
It is a time of year when everything in the woods looks clean, but every
activity is documented for all to see.
There are always signs that it is not always winter here.
Chickadees seemingly confused on a warm day calling ‘see-me’, an old nest
covered in the recent snow still sitting in its Hawthorne tree, the buds of
next year’s leaves already present.
It’s a lot of work to walk in the woods this time of year,
but it may be my favorite time to explore places I know, because everything
changes, and there is a new story in the snow each day.
