There was enough of a break in the clouds to allow a
brief view of the sun as it rose,
perhaps the last its warm glow will be seen for a few
days. Yesterday was a gem of a
day, and although I haven’t been able to ski for a
week a long walk along plowed roads
was exhilarating. Unbroken expanses of snow in the
meadows have a pebbly texture, like
white grits waiting for a pat of butter. I saw no large
animal tracks, but there were scads
of rodent tunnels just under the surface of the snow. The
snow has melted on the roads
down to dirt, and it was a joy to be able to wear
lightweight trail shoes instead of heavy
winter boots. Even the dog seemed lighter on his feet as
he scampered up and down
snowbanks, never once stopping to complain of cold feet.
There was little traffic late
in the afternoon, and the sun set over a tranquil and
calm pastoral scene, much as it
must have been before the advent of internal combustion
engines. We have an
interesting day or two coming up; keep a weather eye out,
and bundle up.
Warmly,
Daisy
~
What a gorgeous morning ! I overslept the sunrise by a
half hour, but I can imagine it
was as pretty as some of the other ones this week. The
sky is deep blue with a bank
of silky clouds along the southeast horizon. A few big
puffs have escaped the border
and are drifting slowly in a northwesterly direction. A
big storm is headed our way, two
different fronts that could come together in an
interesting way tomorrow and Tuesday.
Significant snowfall could be generated, or it could all
just be another media storm. No-
thing shows up on the regional radar, but check out the
mess in Florida on the national
map. Now imagine that front smacking into some lake
effect from the west sometime
late tomorrow afternoon. Better throw your boots in the
car before you leave for work
tomorrow morning. Yesterday we had some lovely fluffy
snow that fell most of the after-
noon, leaving us about six inches richer than we
previously were. A random flake falls
now and then this morning, but the big attraction is the
frost crystals that fill every cubic
inch of air space, from the ground all the way up, as
high as the eye can see. It is like
being in the center of a snow globe, one with a beautiful
rolling valley and mountains
in the distance and a cozy little farm in the middle of
swirling sparkles.
Have a fine day,
Daisy
~
The sky is mostly overcast but the sun has found a thin
spot in the clouds and shines
through with a single strong golden beam, like a giant
laser. A long skinny cell of lake
effect snow is to our southwest, and it looks like it may
show up in a couple of hours;
unless it stalls out when it hits the valley air off the
rim of Tug Hill (which happens often)
it doesn’t look like too big a whoop. However, radar
also shows more snow forming over
Lake Ontario, so really, just about anything can happen
today in the winter storm department.
A few flurries have begun to fall since I started to
write today’s View, tiny little flakes that
are
falling straight to earth, not enough surface to allow
even a little bit of float or sway. I was out
for a while yesterday and found a good many deer tracks;
most of the animals are starting to
drag their feet, a sign that recent snowfall is wearing
them out. There are dozens of deer beds
scattered throughout the forest, many of them new; I
think there may be more deer overwin-
tering than there is forage to support. Red-twig dogwood
shrubs are nibbled down to the
snow line, and similar damage has been done to all of the
apple trees in our area. High winds
and hard rain knocked all of the fruit off in late
autumn, and as the snow grows deeper food
becomes more scarce. Hopefully predators will finish off
the weaker members of the herd
and spare them the slow process of starving to death.
Winter can be a cruel season for wild
critters, but it does keep the gene pool strong by
sparing the stronger animals. There is a
ban on feeding deer in New York State, an edict which at
the outset seems unkind, but
is really meant to insure a stronger, more adaptable
future herd. Take time today to
express gratitude to those who nourish you, lest you
start to drag your feet.
Have a great day,
Daisy
~
Clouds have moved in with a cargo of light flurries which
are slowly drifting to
earth in the still morning air. Earlier there was quite a
light show over the eastern
horizon. Twin rainbows (sundogs) flanked the sun moments
after it rose, and a pillar
of gleaming pure light tethered the glowing orb to the
earth until clouds slowly drew
their curtain across the incredible scene, ending act one
of what looks to be an inter-
esting day. “Sundogs form as sunlight is refracted
by hexagonal plate-like ice crystals
with diameters larger than 30 micrometers and their flat
faces horizontally oriented.
A sun pillar is a vertical shaft of light extending
upward or downward from the sun.
Typically seen during sunrise or sunset, sun pillars form
when sunlight reflects off the
surfaces of falling ice crystals associated with thin,
high-level clouds (like cirrostratus
clouds). The hexagonal plate-like ice crystals fall with
a horizontal orientation, gently
rocking from side to side as they fall." - (Click here) - Now the air is full of
frost
crystals as well as snowflakes, the awesome manifestation
of various gods
and goddesses of winter... or possibly hexagonal plate-like
crystals... I
guess it all depends on your point of view on this very
unusual morning.
Have a mysterious day,
Daisy
~
Clouds are quickly filling in blue-sky spaces and
filtering morning sunlight
into silver. Those sunbeams have been through a lot of
changes this morning,
rising coppery bright, morphing into pure gold as they
chased the moon down,
and now bright pure silver, as cold as the icicles they
illuminate. What a dawn !
Days are becoming noticeably longer, and the colors that
have been appearing
before sunrise are worth getting up early for. The actual
time of sunrise this morn-
ing was about 6:45, but the eastern sky began its awesome
color show just a little
past 6:00. The moon was worthy of note as well, rising at
dusk and setting just after
sunrise. It was full as it set this morning, and will
appear again at 6:18 tonight. Last
night was cold and clear, with moonlight bright enough to
cast shadows across gleam-
ing expanses of snow. It was quiet as could be as I
surveyed the still night, no traffic,
no coyotes or barking dogs, just the sound of my breath
forming frosty clouds before
me as I strolled along the road. It is wonderful to be
away from the streetlights of town,
and have only moonlight and starshine to guide my
footsteps. Wherever you live,
find a place where you can get away from the lights and
go there
once in a while to immerse yourself in a silent night.
Have a fine day,
Daisy
~
The sky is a complexity of blue, various clouds, and one
patch of sparkling frost this
morning. A flat grey pall hangs over the southeast, and
snippets of wispy fluff compete
with solid puffy blobs, none of them hanging around very
long, quickly coming and going
in a windless sky. The cell of lake effect snow that was
forecast for today has dissipated
over the western part of our state, and the outlook seems
like an interesting mix of sun
and clouds. A small mass of frost crystals is hovering
over one of our gardens, and try
as I might I can’t find any other places around the
immediate area that display this effect.
Perhaps it is tiny motes of ice that are somehow being
dislodged from a nearby birch tree,
dancing on the air. They are going nowhere, little
brilliant diamonds hovering and twirling
in a space about the size of a one-car garage. Maybe an undine
has decided to check
out the garden as a reference point in her ethereal
travels, somewhere safe to come
and take a break from her duties as a water spirit. (If
you can’t prove I’m wrong,
how do you know I am not right...)Your assignment
for today, Grasshopper:
find something you can’t explain, and explain it.
Have an interesting day,
Daisy
~
Freezing rain that made for treacherous driving last
night has transformed the view
into an icy wonderland. Each and every tree, right down
to the tiniest twig, is cloaked
in delicate frosting, softening the hard edge of winter
for just a little while. Sparse flur-
ries are barely falling to earth in the quiet air,
hanging motionless for an instant before
eventually succumbing to gravity’s pull. Crazy
birdsong pierces the stillness, happy
sounds that never fail to bring a smile to my face. A
busy day is planned, leaving little
time to enjoy the beauty of Tug Hill today; I will have
to make do with a short walk
to Horsey Creek and back, soaking up a day’s worth
of wintry fresh air in just
fifteen minutes time. Even a brief walk is better than
none at all, a little trek
to get the dog out and get a bit of oxygen into the auld
bod.
Have a great day,
Daisy
~
Piles of snow filled the yard overnight, a foot deep in
some places where the
wind pushed it around. I’m guessing about six inches
has fallen so far, with more
arriving by the boatload. Even though schools are closed
for President’s week, the
town has done a great job of plowing us out early in the
morning. The downhill skiers
are already gone from the house, excited by the prospect
of making first tracks in this
beautiful powder. We couldn’t have asked for a
better start to one of the biggest ski
weeks of the year; let’s hope the weather continues
to cooperate. Yesterday I traveled
across Tug Hill to the Highmarket area for a cross-country
ski outing with friends. We
skied a big loop through a well-managed mixed deciduous/coniferous
forest, peppered
here and there with thorny locust trees. Hills were
gentle and conditions were perfect
for the sport, and bright afternoon sunshine made it seem
much warmer outside than it
really was. We crossed a few swamps, frozen and
picturesque with red-twig dogwood
and young balsams. All of the evergreens were festooned
with plump pillows of snow,
easily accidentally dislodged onto the head of the
next person on the trail if they follow-
ed too close. Dozens of deer tracks crisscrossed the
area, many of them showing drag-
marks from the chore of plodding through ten inches of
snow on top of a fragile bottom
layer of crud. We came upon a fat porcupine dozing on a
small branch, bark nibbled in
a path that led straight to its resting place. How it
held onto that thin branch while sleep-
ing is a mystery to me, and it barely acknowledged our
presence. These critters look so
cuddly from a distance, like a big old furry mad bomber
hat or a stuffed animal
won in a hoop toss. Looks can be deceiving, eh? It was a
great day on the Hill,
and I am looking forward to many more such days before
the snow melts.
Get out and play,
Daisy
~
Sunday, February 20, 2005 8:30 a.m.
12 degrees, breezy, sunny
Three inches of new clean snow sparkles in absolute
unfiltered sunshine this morning.
Powder is so light underfoot that each step poofs it out
and away, leaving giant tracks,
all sasquatchy across the yard. The sky is the main
object of awe in today’s view; it
is the deep blue of high pressure, unhindered by clouds
or atmospheric disturbances
above. Blackbirds abound, sitting, flying, singing and
preening in the wonderful unself-
conscious way of birds. The whole gang is here, twenty or
more, a regular avian family
reunion, spread over three big trees and enchanting even
the simple task of dumping
the compost bucket. These are Disney birds, and any
minute I expect one of them to
drop a magic feather into my outstretched hand, allowing
me to join them in flight for
the day. It is a fine morning; make plans to get out and
enjoy the sunshine,
the fresh snow, and the wonders of the season.
Have fun,
Daisy
~
It is very cold and windy, but a silvery sun beaming down
through
rose-colored clouds takes the hard edge off of the
morning. Although the
air was filled with snowflakes for most of yesterday, we
received little significant
accumulation. Waves of clouds are quickly beginning to
fill in the blanks; perhaps
a little more snow is on the way today. The wind picked
up around noon yesterday
and was blowing even in the shelter of the forest, so ski
plans were abandoned for
the day. Last week’s storms have brought the
snowmobilers back to the Hill in full
force. There is not much of a base, and roadside ditches
are filled in with fluff, de-
ceptively smooth and inviting. Why stay on the trail when
there is such a beautiful
untracked meadow just across the road? Three little words:
deep drainage ditch.
Add to that the possibility of crashing into a disc
harrow barely covered by snow
or last years firewood that hasn’t yet been bucked
up; these are just a few reasons
for staying on the trail. I mention this because it seems
that many of our winter visitors
are more concerned for their sleds than they are for the
property rights of local land-
owners. It may be just a few outlaws that overstep the
bounds of common courtesy
but the trend towards inconsiderate trespassing seems to
be growing a little every year.
Have fun and ride safe; but remember, you are guests here.
Have a fine day,
Daisy
~
Even though the radar map shows today’s lake effect
band passing to the
south of us, we have been receiving intermittent flurries
all morning. Yester-
day several intense cells of snow made for an interesting
day, at least here
on Gomer Hill. I left for work in the middle of a raging
whiteout, barely able
to see the edges of the road. When I reached the flats of
Route 26 just a little
bit away from home, the sun was shining brightly and
there wasn’t one mote
of snow to be found. I guess that’s what they mean
when they say chance of
lake effect snow, especially over Tug Hill. We ended
up with about five inches
of new snow yesterday, light and fluffy and currently
calling my name. I will finally
be able to press my new skis into service, fat
backcountry skis with metal edges
and a smooth surface that requires careful waxing for
good kick and glide. I hated
to take these beauties out until there was enough of a
base to prevent the unblem-
ished bottoms from getting gouged and scoured on stones,
dirt, and forest debris.
It is cold and windy, but the sparkling fresh snow and
fresh air are very alluring.
I love winter !
Daisy
~
The sun just came up and everything is basking in a fine
orange glow.
Long shadows stream from trees and buildings to interrupt
a glistening carpet
of new snow. We received about four inches of very wet
snow yesterday, too
sticky to ski through but very pretty as it piled up
across the land. The snowfall was
heralded by two big rumbles of thunder and a couple of
good flashes of lightning.
A group of clouds is moving towards us over Lake Ontario,
picking up moisture
as they sweep over the open water, and we are under a
lake effect snow
warning for later today. A few rosy clouds are beginning
to mosey in
from the west; looks like we had better get out while the
gettin’ is good.
Have a great day,
Daisy
~
Tuesday, February 15, 2005 8:15 a.m.
32 degrees, windy, overcast
Eight inches of sugary snow fell during yesterday’s
storm and has been crusted over
by fine overnight mist. The valley received a mix of snow
and rain, but here on Tug Hill
it was all snow. For some reason the plow didn’t
come up Gomer Hill Road until after
dark last night, and ascending the steep path through
fresh deep snow with zero visibility
was a challenge that truly tested the sturdy little tank
I was piloting. It is windy now, but
not raining or snowing. Blackbirds are everywhere,
singing loudly to be heard above the
constant whoosh and roar. We may see a little sun today,
or maybe some rain before
this front has had its way with us. Snow returns tomorrow
for several days, so plan
your outings accordingly. Meanwhile, today would be a
good one to build a fort
or a snowman, or if you have a lot of help, a fort
guarded by snowmen.
Have a fine day,
Daisy
~
At 6:30 the view was a heavenly
lasagna of colors, fiery clouds alternating with
layers of bright blue sky. At 7:01 the sun pierced the
horizon with a blinding flame;
all other colors suddenly seemed dull by comparison. A
small band of lake effect snow
is passing north of here and will probably miss us. The
big story is a huge mass of rain
and frozen something-or-other tracking up from
Pennsylvania. It looks like it is on a
direct collision course with us later this afternoon,
bringing a little bit of everything along
for the ride. Yesterday we had a wonderful afternoon of
skiing on the state trails at
Carpenter Road. For many of the group it was the longest
ski journey they had ever
been on and conditions couldn’t have been more
perfect. We had to break a little bit
of trail, but the snow was velvety smooth and quiet as a
whisper beneath our skis.
Cold temperatures were rendered impotent by a warm late
winter sun, and the breeze
didn’t penetrate the forest enough to bother anyone.
We skied through balsams laden
with a full compliment of snow, contrasting perfectly
with giant larch trees, bald and
stark. One of the nicest parts of the trail is an alley
of ash trees, a boundary marker
from days gone by. One enormous maple tree marks the
corner of private property,
and the ash trees line up in quiet elegance behind the
stately Grandmother. It was
a fun day among friends young and old, a wonderful memory
to pull out of the
vault on a hot humid August day amid the swelter of
summer chores.
(Or on a sleety icy rainy February day, for that matter...)
Enjoy your day,
Daisy
~
Sunday, February 13, 2005 8:30 a.m.
14 degrees, breezy, sunny
Three or four additional inches of snow fell late
yesterday afternoon, part of
an unpredicted lake effect band that appeared out of
nowhere. It is going to remain
somewhat cold today, so this new layer will stay fluffy
and not deteriorate into mush
as did yesterday's accumulation. For that reason I left
the skis in the barn and took a
little walk after lunch instead. The dog was happy to be
out, traveling at least twice as
far as I, up and down the banks, to and fro, reaching the
end of his extendable leash
time and time again. On such a fine afternoon I tried to
keep up with him for a while,
jogging along as he took off on his tiny gallops, then
stopping short as he sniffed some
wonderful footprint or bit of roadside detritus. This dog
has been my personal trainer
on many an occasion, giving me just the right intervals
of running and walking. I am not
a natural runner, but somehow when following the dog it
seems effortless, and he always
slows down just in the nick of time. The sky was full of
chickadees, crows, jays, black-
birds and grosbeaks, especially around a house up the
road that must have a feeder
outside the back door. We watched clouds roll in from the
west and returned home
just before the snow started. Today will be a fine one
for anything outdoors;
just dress in layers, it looks warm but the breeze may
prove otherwise.
Have a great day,
Daisy
~
We received enough snow overnight to require plowing this
morning, two or
three inches plus some big drifts leftover from yesterday’s
strong wind. Flurries
are still falling steadily, and truck tire tracks are
already beginning to disappear.
We skied on the state trails from Carpenter Road, and had
to break trail for the
entire journey. The snow was light enough that it wasn’t
much of a chore, and we
figured our tracks would still be there for some
effortless weekend skiing. Looks
like all of our work will have to be done over, but that
is part of the charm of the
sport. Even though those trails are well-traveled, after
a fresh snowfall it is as if
no one had ever been there before. Some other state
trails have groomers that
set perfect parallel grooves into the snow, but I really
prefer manmade tracks
that follow the natural contours of slope, which a
machine lacks intuition to find.
We had a wonderful trip on a gorgeous blue-sky day and
came out of the woods
just in time to enjoy a beautiful sunset. Have you
noticed the days are beginning
to lengthen into the dinner hour? If you are lucky, you
will be able to play out-
doors until it is time to come in for supper, just like
when you were a young’un.
Have a fun-filled day,
Daisy
~
It looks a lot warmer outside than it really is; while
this morning’s sparkling
clear view is breath-taking, so is the north wind. The
breeze has shoved new
snow around into meadow sculptures resembling sand dunes,
full of gently roll-
ing mounds and sharp-edged ripples. There is a strong
line of clouds to the east
over the Adirondack Mountains; they may still be getting
a few flurries over that
way, having received more snow overall than Tug Hill from
this little storm. I don’t
believe I can recall a winter with so little snow. One
year we didn’t see much snow
at all until well into January, but then we had several
big dumps to make up for a
slow start. I suppose I should be careful what I wish
for; three feet of snow in April
is not unheard of, and if Old Man Winter wants to give us
a year off, it is fine with
me. Our new snow total is only about five inches, but
that is plenty to get us back
out on cross country skis on a beautiful sunny day such
as this. I don’t know if
snowmobile trails have re-opened; call before you head up
here this weekend.
Have a great day,
Daisy
~
We got about four inches of snow from a little storm that
lasted well into the night,
mushy slush under a layer of beautiful white fluff. The
wind is beginning to shift it
around a bit, and a few more flakes falling from the sky
are doing little to add to
the overall accumulation. We may see a few more inches
before this blows itself
out later tonight, and an increase in wind speed could
definitely make traveling a
little tricky today. We were on our way home from
Watertown yesterday after-
noon when it started to snow; roadside weeds became lacy
with snow stuck on
top of fog ice that formed late in the day. By the time
we finished dinner, all of the
mud and grime that the recent sunny days had spawned was
gone under a clean
layer of snow. During the night some small animal
thoroughly explored the yard,
leaving a meandering trail back and forth from house to
barn several times, pro-
bably a cat. Our barn has not been very attractive to
wandering critters since we
cleared out all of the old hay and put down a crushed
stone floor. There is nothing
to burrow into for warmth, so feral cats and lonesome
skunks take one look and
head off to a cozier spot. We will all appreciate a cozy
spot to snuggle tonight
as the temperature heads back down into the teens.
Bundle up,
Daisy
~
Wednesday, February 9, 2005 9:00 a.m.
33 degrees, calm, fog
It is so foggy this morning that I can barely see the
edge of the garden
fifty feet from the window. I can hear blackbirds cooing
and whistling, but
their forms are mere shadows at the top of the tree. I
wonder if this heavy
mist is in the valley as well, ruling out a trip to the
city that was planned for
later in the day. I don’t worry about my own ability
to navigate in weather
like this, but yesterday I noticed that four drivers were
zipping down the foggy
route to work with their headlights off. It’s the other
guys that have me concerned,
appearing unannounced out of nowhere on a day like this.
Yesterday was just a
little bit rainy, enough to muddy up the dog during our
walk, but not bad enough
to don full storm gear. The dirt roads of Tug Hill are
getting a little bit squishy,
but the stones along the berm make for a sure-footed
surface. All of the brown
will soon be covered by white, maybe accompanied by
blustery north winds.
Could winter finally be on its way ?
Have a great day,
Daisy
~
Tuesday, February 8, 2005 9:00 a.m.
33 degrees, breezy, rain
Raindrops occasionally morph into something that is not
quite snow on a morning
like this. I call it thick rain, the kind that
splats on the window in fat globules that
hesitate for an instant before they ooze down the glass.
It is honey instead of tears,
a sweet message that the water tables are filling in
anticipation of the lush growing
season ahead of us. We skied on the state trails at
Carpenter Road yesterday and
almost quit after the first half mile. The track had
frozen overnight into solid ice, and
even though the temperature had climbed into the forties
it was still impossible to get
a grip on the ice for uphill climbs. Even a slight grade
required precise foot placement
and weight centering, or our skis suddenly shot backwards
accompanied by grunts of
pain as the hip flexors hyperextended for the fiftieth
time. Yelling “Make a wish!” was
funny the first forty-nine times, but it became tiresome.
All of a sudden it was as if a
switch had been thrown and the entire trail softened just
enough that the difficulty dis-
appeared. Downhill runs were zippy and the uphill climbs
were effortless. After today’s
rain we may see a few days of snow, which will make for
perfect cross-country skiing
in time for the weekend. Most snowmobile trails around
here have been closed, nuthin’
but mud. I took the dog out for a walk at day’s end
along one of the major trails that
was perfect for walking but would have made a horrible
ride. Call ahead before
you haul your trailers up to your vacation homes this
weekend; unless we get
a good dump of snow, there is nowhere to ride. There are,
however,
tons of good places to walk, so bring your hiking boots.
Have a great day,
Daisy
~
Sunrise was extra colorful this morning following a
multicolored prelude, dawn’s
stunning preview a reward for the early riser. Mourning
doves, crows, and blackbirds
are in full voice, a perfect soundtrack to the whole
scene. We lost quite a bit of snow
yesterday in the strong sunshine, and patches of grass
and mud have surfaced all over
the place. I believe we are being lulled into a false
sense of spring; we are certain to
get hammered with a few good snowstorms in the next few
weeks. We skied along
the edges of Tug Hill yesterday along a fine trail laid
down by a friend with snowshoes.
There were lots of critter tracks, eroded by the sun into
sasquatch-sized footprints.
One set of deer tracks showed leaps of incredible
distance, ten or twelve feet between
marks. We came into a big open meadow and were stopped
dead in our tracks by
heavy wet snow that glommed onto the bottom of our skis
like sticky gruel. Through
the woods, we had perfect kick and glide; the sun in the
meadow was too intense,
so we turned back into the forest for the return trip.
Today will be sunny and quite
warm for the most part, with a little rain or snow moving
in as the sun goes down.
Take advantage of this wonderful weather while it lasts;
have a great day,
Daisy
~
Sunday, February 6, 2005 8:45 a.m.
44 degrees, breezy, sunny
Oh ! This day’s beauty is easily summed up by that
one short word, sighed
out through a big goofy grin. A large flock of blackbirds
just swooped across
the meadow, moving together as one, avian hive behavior
in action. There are
a few birds perched here and there around the yard, and I
think I can see their
beaks slightly turned up to echo my smile. On a day like
this, just about anything
is possible. Yesterday we skied from Gomer Hill Road
through the woods to the
top of Snow Ridge. The trail was flawlessly packed and
very fast, and 100% of
us managed to succumb to SGS (Sudden Gravity Syndrome) at
least once. We
exploded from the woods into the colorful and noisy world
of downhill sport, chair-
lifts grinding away and large groups of youngsters trying
to look cool on snowboards
as they fell down exiting the lift. Who had more fun
yesterday? Those skiing in an
endless industrially enhanced loop of chairlift and
groomed slope, or those who glided
under their own steam soundlessly through the beautiful
Tug Hill forest? Looking at
the faces of all who gathered at one instant in time atop
Snow Ridge, there was no
difference at all. We were all among friends, outdoors on
a gorgeous midwinter day,
smiles all around. Different strokes;
it’s all good,
Daisy
~
Saturday, February 5, 2005 7:00 a.m.
24 degrees, calm, sunny
It is clear and peachy all over here on the Hill. Fog
sits thickly in the entire valley,
looking like a vast gently rolling sea from way up here.
It will soon be sunny, but for
now it is merely peachy, soft blurry shades of that
succulent fruit filling the sky in
anticipation of a beauty of a day. Smoke wafts gently
down from the chimney, a poor
imitation of the valley mist. One blackbird and one crow
share the same branch outside
my window, perched in companionable silence. Ah, here
comes the sun now, lighting
up the power lines at the roadside like neon ads in Vegas.
A tiny fingernail of moon
is on the rise, three days away from disappearing from
view for a while. I wonder
why they call it a new moon when it seems not to
be there at all ?
Have a great day,
Daisy
~
It is another mild midwinter morning. Dense valley fog is
uberwhite, reflecting
pure magnified sunbeams back into the sky. It looks like
flatlanders are totally
shrouded in mist, while we hillheads enjoy the first
light of day on our bare heads
and faces as we breathe in the spring-like air. In fact,
today marks the first day
past the astrological mid-point of winter, and we are now
closer to the vernal
equinox than to winter solstice. Perhaps that’s why
the sun feels extra warm
this morning. The blackbirds sound quite jubilant on
this fine day, and crows
are passing between the hedgerows with merry aimlessness,
uttering soft honks
and chuckles instead of harsh cries of alarm. Four deer
stroll across the lower
meadow, stopping often to paw away the snow and munch on
some buried
remnant of last summer’s lush hay. The entire day
stretches before us,
fresh and new. What are your plans ?
Have some fun,
Daisy
~
After a very colorful sunrise in a clear sky streaked
with clouds at the horizon, more
clouds slowly drifted in to allow us just a peek of
silvery sun now and then. There were
only five blackbirds greeting the day this morning, but
last night there were ten, so my
theory that they work in shifts just might be true. On
such a beautiful morning I would
have expected more than five to show up, but maybe they
were partying late into the
night. A whole mess of crows flew by my window before
dawn, awakening me with
frantic calls, sounding distressed rather than joyful. I
saw a snow owl perched on a
telephone pole across the road the other day; perhaps the
crows were being regard-
ed as breakfast by this majestic predator. As I sit here
writing these words, three crows
just flew past the window, silent but flying swift and
low. Yesterday afternoon we skied
in the forest across the road. Snow is still fairly deep
in the woods but easy to manage;
there were four of us and we took turns at the head of
the line. We passed by dozens
of deer runs and many beds, some fresh and some more well-used.
The meadows were
dotted with tiny meandering trails left by little rodents
out for a romp in the sunshine. I
thought we might catch a glimpse of the great white owl,
but every time I have seen it
this winter it has been a total surprise. Perhaps that is
the way it is with rare and beau-
tiful things; go looking, and they elude you. But just
when you least expect it, you get
blown away, suddenly delighted by the very thing you have
been seeking. That’s what
I like best about wandering around on Tug Hill, no matter
what the season. One minute
I will be entertaining random thoughts about an untied
boot or what to fix for dinner,
and then wham! an ermine crosses my path, or a
gigantic milk snake,
or a pair of frolicking minks, or a huge white owl...
Have a surprisingly wonder-full day,
Daisy
~
Wednesday, February 2, 2005 8:30 a.m.
29 degrees, breezy, sunny
Well, I saw my shadow this morning, so we can look
forward to only another six
weeks of winter ! Won’t it be lovely to have spring
arrive a whole month early this year,
in the middle of March? Would you like to buy a swell
bridge in Brooklyn ? Ah, the
things that become reality just because someone fashions
a good story to support it...
What matters is not how many days of winter are left,
either real or imaginary; what is
important is to seize this gorgeous day and wring all of
the beauty out of it that we can.
Heck, let’s do that on the crummy days too! Why have
we been conditioned to think
that a day as flawless as this one is “perfect”,
when in fact, there is some measure of
perfection to be found in every day, even the ones that
the weathermen declare to be
“nasty, cold, dreary, rainy, blahblahblah”.
Make up your own mind, and make each
and every day your very own declaration of independence
from preconceived notions. Carpe your freakin’ diem,
Daisy
~
Tuesday, February 1, 2005 8:30 a.m.
29 degrees, breezy, sunny
February! It is another stunning morning, full of
sunshine and the promise of a
lovely day yet to come. Warmer temperatures have settled
deep fluff from the last
snowfall into a slightly denser layer of white that is
beginning to look a little tarnished
by surface dirt and twigs scattered here and there. Cross
country skiing has been ex-
cellent, but there are few places to safely cross the
creeks and streams encountered
in Tug Hill’s back country, so plan your routes
accordingly. Usually by this time of
year we have free access to wander over the entire Hill;
this year’s weather aberra-
tions have somewhat limited our range. Huge shallow ponds
have formed all over
the Hill, and not all of them are entirely frozen. Swamps
are seepy around the edges
and streams have run so high during thaws that the banks
are now too sheer to scram-
ble up, even when an adequate snow bridge is found. I
enjoyed the birds for a while
earlier, but I noticed the blackbirds are missing one of
their choir. There have been
seven of them hanging out in the yard for the last three
winters, but this morning
there are only six. Of course, there may be way more than
seven blackbirds
(working in shifts?) and this morning one may simply be
taking a personal day.
Have a great day,
Daisy
~