Snow Day

Here on "the Southside" of Tidewater/Hampton Roads,

we experienced our first big snow day on Friday--

and by big snow day, I mean an inch or two.

Some winters bring us snowfall, but many do not.

So when Southeastern Virginia gets some snow, it's a big deal.

Traffic jams, crowded grocery stores, school cancellations,

early closings--all are part of a snow day in the Shire.

When I got home Friday, just ahead of the heaviest of the snow,

I baked cookies and watched the juncos and cardinals 

feeding at the feeders.

Snow always brings juncos, 

but they don't often show up at feeding stations otherwise.

Their arrival with the snow is a delight, yet a mystery to me.

I mean, where have they been all this time?

Even so, seeing birds feeding in the soft falling snow

makes a chilly winter's day special.

So in honor of our first snow day,

a poem by Robert Frost:

Dust of Snow

The way a crow

Shook down on me

The dust of snow

From a hemlock tree

Has given my heart

A change of mood

And saved some part

Of a day I rued.

Sometimes, a little brush with nature is all it takes.

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