snow on snow

Image from Rien Poortvliet, found here: http://www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/poortvliet_rien.html

In the bleak midwinter
Frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron,
Water like a stone;
Snow had fallen,
Snow on snow,
Snow on snow,
In the bleak midwinter,
Long ago.

-Christina Rosetti

Today, the second snowstorm of the weekend is blowing sideways across our small town. This morning PK and I took the 4wheel drive over to a small patch of conservation land near the bay and went for a ski with the pup. At first, the snow blistered against our faces and my fingers were numb inside my gloves, but as we sped up and moved from field to forest, things inside me settled into a comfortable rhythm. My body was warm, I could see tracks, muted by the new snow, leading into holes in the ice, the woods, along the path. All sorts of little animals had been busy in the night, scurrying from one hidey hole to another. At one point, we looked up and saw a Bald Eagle swooping low over the trees, perhaps heading towards open water for a snack before the storm increased. Now, at home, with the tree lights shining and a belly full of veggie barley stew, I am warm and happy, safe once again in my own comfortable burrow.