It was nearly two in the afternoon, when took my walk. The temperatures had risen today. It was close to 35 degrees.
I stood out on the path in the middle of the lowest spot, along the drainage tile. I was surrounded by heavy snow that crunched with each step I took. My heels sunk into the wet snow and my toes followed with a rubbery sound, similar to rubbing your fingers across the outside of blown up balloon.
I felt I was shrinking! An optical illusion as the trees towered above.
The sky directly overhead was void of clouds.
While the horizon itself, was painted with a smooth, dark grayish, blue color.
Furrows of lighter colored clouds stretched upward from that darkness, and meandered in soft lines. They swirled upward, round and round, lighter and lighter until the clouds broke apart.
Everything pulled together like a tassel at the top of a hat.
All that soft brightness reflected off the surrounding clouds, with a very pale washed out center of whitish blue.
I felt as if I were spectator, sitting in a cozy chair in a planetarium.
Everywhere I looked, the clouds followed that spherical path, up and out.
Two flocks of geese approached from the northwest and flew over my house. The first group, a wedge, flew in a ‘V’ formation. The second flock flew a straight line, a skein, like a tail of a kite trailing last.
I watched the geese turn and head southeast. Both groups merged into the wedge, one wide ‘V’ formation. They flew in a wide circle. I watched them fly directly towards the east, then turn sharply and head back north. All the while honking and talking like a group of teenage girls.
I moved on up the path. I dragged my feet through the snow, so I wouldn’t slip. I noticed I wasn’t the only one who walked this way in the past twenty-four hours.
The white snow was marred by multiple foot prints, coyotes, opossums, rats, rabbits, deer and raccoons.
Mother Nature must have had a big party last night.
Corn cobs were scattered under the trees and stripped of their hard kernels. The animal that ate that corn was very patient. The hull was peeled and eaten. Remnants scattered around like peanut shells.
Off in the distance I could hear the motorized high pitch whine of a snowmobile. It rose in pitch, lowered then rose up again, over and over. I couldn’t see the vehicle. But, it sounded like someone was having fun as they raced in the fields.
Heavier clouds were moving in, I called for my dog and we headed back home..
Picture From: http://wdfw.wa.gov/wlm/living/canada_geese.htm#info (Photo by Russell Link.)