Awakening in Narnia

It is day four of the first major blizzard to impact our area in this new decade.
Living in the hills of New England is a bit like bordering the Land of OZ.
Quite often throughout the year you awaken in your familiar bed only to arise
and realize that you have arrived “somewhere else” overnight.
This is heightened to almost surreal proportions when your home is surrounded by woodlands along a centuries old dirt road.
The dense and sticky snow manages to transform every delicate branch into feathery plumes seemingly strewn overnight by a fairy-tale snow goose.
When I opened the door this morning to greet the gathering goldfinches swarming the empty feeder, I found myself in Narnia…
The subtle but dramatic fluctuations in solar light through the opaque cloud cover are hard to describe. It creates a dramatic stage set of a white on white world.
All is still and then huge dollops of artfully stacked snow surrender to gravity and silently plop to the ground. A fiery red squirrel shoots like a flame through the lacy branches leaving curtains of snowflakes in his wake. A stately pileated woodpecker calls out from the staghorn sumac where he delicately nibbles the snow-capped velvet flowers.
My tired arms ache at the thought of clearing the path to the door again… but for now I allow myself to merge with the silence, the sublime stillness, the living poetry of Nature.
Be warm and well wherever you may be…