Happy New Year

These guys seem to be enjoying the winter sun. Visiting the swamp two days after Christmas, and it's turned off warm and sunny. We've had cold and snow and lots of rain, and now this pleasant promise of springtime.

Sneaux on the hills

Well, it snowed in the hills last night; an oddity for this part of the country. Big, fluffy wet flakes were falling and there was a good blanket at 10 pm. But the ground was too warm and, by morning, it was just a mottling in the clearings and nothing under the trees. Temperature was 32 at daybreak, so the stuff up in the trees stayed and was pretty. Only openings on north- facing hillsides kept their coverage into the morning. I didn't see any deer, before or after the "blizzard". Sun was shining and trees started dripping about 8:30. And I came out of the woods when the big blobs of snow started falling from the treetops.

Leaf color in the swamp

Autumn seems to have arrived. A bit more color is showing, since the frost. But the leaves are falling as fast as they are coloring. The view is still worth a stroll in the woods.