Rain again....

Why is it that I have not been expecting this kind of a soaking rain in January? I also have not been expecting the thermometer to reach fifty-three degrees! It has rained much of the night and so far all morning. I was expecting cold and snow….

Snow is gone---- Yes that’s what I said: The snow is gone! If I search I can find a spot or two… not really big enough to gather together for a snowball. I expect it all will be gone before evening --- unless this storm changes and it begins to snow again.

Yesterday I was taking pictures of ice patterns on the windows and in our tiny stream. Today abundant large clumps of club mosses show fresh bright green throughout the meadow and to my surprise there are grasses where yesterday’s snow lay! Ferns fringe the edge of the woods; their rich greens stand out against the gray of the bare rocks and the red brown of the wet leaves that have so recently been covered with snow. Ferns are abundant during the spring and summer but I had not expected to find them in the middle of winter.

The rain stopped. I have opened the windows and am letting my room fill with wonderful fresh air. It is also washing the cobwebs out of my mind.

The sky is filled with fast moving clouds. Gray upon gray, more shades of white and some more gray; here and there a tint of lavender; the thinner layers even glow with hints of gold. Occasionally the clouds part and I can see layers of even more clouds and above them even another layer. All of the layers of clouds, moving at different speeds, are racing furiously toward the east.

Bald Eagles are riding the air currents; two mature eagles and one immature.
Not a wing moves in the deep slow beat I am used to seeing yet they rise upward and, after gliding for awhile, drop on some invisible eddy then rise again to catch another, circle and soar high above then turn, heading downstream through the trees and out of sight. They too seem to be reveling in the respite from the storm. Light catches their white heads as they soar above the treetops. I have no idea how fast the clouds are moving but they move across my view in seconds. Blue sky is beginning to open here and there. As the clouds part, they allow the sun to break through for a moment setting the woods and hills aglow. For a short time the skies are filled with soft pink clouds which disappear as the storm once again covers them with its blanket of gray and the darkness of night settles in.