morning ski

it is hard to believe this is what the landscape looked like just 48 hours ago. now it is brown, windswept farmland with some green creeping in on the edges as the temperature pushes 60 degrees and rain falls as a cold front approaches. this time of year can be described as changeable at best.

the snow was still light and fluffy as i skied across it the other morning. we received about five inches of the white stuff and it served me and my skis well. despite the reading of 14 degrees on my car's thermometer, i quickly warmed up in the sun and had to shed my hat as i glided across about three miles of preserve. down by a creek i spooked a big white tailed deer buck. there were fox tracks all over the place, near the creek and up into the woods. i also saw rabbit tracks and birds in the hedgerows. it was a pretty strong showing for a winter morning.

because it got so cold overnight, the steam from the ponds and creeks created beautiful ice crystals on the branches of nearby trees and shrubs. things looked to be coated in rock candy. but it was fragile, and the slightest wind knocked it to the ground to rest upon the snow.

i feel so lucky to have spent the morning outside in the fresh air, enjoying a bit of winter before these winds roared in to wipe the slate clean again. who knows if we'll have more snow this season but with less than a month to go before spring i feel i might have gotten the last tracks in for the season, at least here in chester county.