Changes

Ever since the big ice storm back in December, our local landscape has changed. There are great numbers of trees down, some of them cascaded one onto another, having fallen like dominoes. Each time we’ve headed out into the woods this winter to do some snowshoeing, it’s been a bit challenging. We’ve had to find new routes; overcome new obstacles, because subsequent snowstorms and ice storms and everything-in-between-storms have brought more branches and trees down.

This afternoon was sunny, a little breezy and very cold (16 F, -9 C). We had flurries and snow squalls last night which left us two inches of fresh powder. That fluffy snow rests over a good inch and a half or more of crusty, icy snow, which in turn is covering better than a foot of snow from earlier storms. Unfortunately, the icy layer completely trashed the baskets on my ski poles. Needless to say, today’s trek was sometimes quite a slog! We were only out for about an hour and a half and well bundled up, but it took ages for us to thaw out once we were back home. A little grilled eggplant, with baked pasta helped warm us up. Although the tossed salad and the pinot noir were chillier counterpoints!

The icy layer


Baskets? What baskets?


Big, beautiful birch down


At eye level