Cloudy Morning

“Don't knock the weather, nine-tenths of the
people couldn't start a conversation if it
didn't change once in a while.”
- Kin Hubbard

Winter Sky
Blue upon gray, white on blue, more gray
Clouds layered upon cloud layer
– darker still
Tone upon tone
Accented grays and blues
Rapidly moving
Faster and faster still
Before the winter wind.

Storm is coming
Wind carries the word
Clouds post the warning
Here come the dark gray morning blues
Time to stoke up the fire
Heat up the tea
And find a good book.

We got out early for a walk along the D & H (Delaware and Hudson) Canal. We followed the levee from the outskirts of Port Jervis back toward Sparrowbush. The levee was covered with about six inches of crusty packed snow. The trail is seldom used in the wintertime but we could see that before the snow had crusted over a number of other feet had passed along the trail before us. Both sides of the path are lined with tall deciduous trees lifting their barren branches high over our heads. Old wooden power poles have begun to topple. They lie abandoned where they have fallen. The uphill side of the trail still sports bits and pieces of old rock canal wall. We startle a white-tailed deer that bounds up the side hill then stands (as though he thinks we can’t see him) and watches as we pass by below.

Our path seems almost stark as we wander through the trees. As we walk, I realize one of the reasons the landscape seems so stark is that there are no evergreens here. Our yard at home is filled with evergreens, the pines, hemlocks, rhododendrons; even the small evergreen ground cover brings beautiful contrast against the white snow.

Gray squirrels have been digging in the snow. I wonder how they can break through this thick crust to reach down to the acorns and seeds they buried last fall.

The sun only manages to break through the clouds for very short periods of time. A flash of movement draws our eyes and we discover some golden-crowned kinglets flitting through the trees. These active little birds are seldom in one place for more than a moment and they are always a challenge and a joy to watch. I have yet to capture their photo with my camera.
As we head home the storm arrives and flurries of snow begin. By noon it is actively raining. The rain is on again, off again all afternoon. A good day for that warm fire, tea and a book