Yesterday morning was magical. Enough snow had melted that I could make my Thursday deliveries of bread, eggs, and tofu on Friday. Wednesday I decided that there was no way I was going to venture out with all the snow on the roads.

Thursday night, a fresh inch of snow fell, not enough to be alarming, but enough to make for a dazzling morning.

This morning, yesterday’s beauty is melting away, drip by drip by drip. The snow is sliding off the roofs, turning into big puddles in the woods, and making paths muddy walkways.

Yesterday morning it started with a light snow. By dark the temperature dropped below freezing. During the night the fluffiest of snow fell, blanketing everything. Snows here are often wet and heavy. Today’s snow is so light walking through it is like walking on clouds. Shoveling the driveway after the snow stopped falling was a breeze. With some of our heavy snows, each scoop weighs a ton. Today’s snow was lighter than marshmallows.

The forecast is for one more day of snow before our winter rains return on Thursday. By Friday this wonderland will just be a memory.

What a morning to start a new year. New Year’s morning broke calm and mild, so mild I spent time outdoors on the deck enjoying the rising sun. Not only was it mild, English Daisies and Forsythia were in bloom.

2020 is the year of the rat, the first of the animals in the 12 cycle of zodiac animals. The rat beat all the other animals in the race to decide the order of the zodiac. Cleverly, he hitched a ride on the ox and just before the ox was about to step over the finish line, the rat jumped off in front of the ox and became the winner of the race.

A fitting morning for the dawn after the Solstice. It does feel like the dawn of a new year and the awakening of spring. The days are no longer getting shorter. This is a day worth celebrating. The new light will breathe life back into the woods.

Saturday morning the garden ducks were nowhere to be seen. Their swimming tank where they spend most of the day was quiet. I found them in the hoop house. It poured rain Friday night and it must have been too wet even for the ducks. I’m guessing that is why they went into the hoop house. It is raining too much when it is too wet for ducks.

This morning, they are back out in the garden, preening themselves after a good swim.

I like the soft indigo color the hydrangea flowers become in the fall. Their sky blue summer hues soften and age to this refined shade of indigo. A warm winter sweater of this color would look sublime.

We are deep into fall. The snow geese are back in droves. I’ve seen the first of the swans flying about. In another week or so, the sky will be full of mute and trumpeter swans who settle in the valley for the winter.

The leaves pile up and up. The rich leathery hues are calming. This year the falls color seem more brilliant than average.