It's Coming

Spring, that is. 

It seems we are being blessed with an early Spring and I couldn't be happier. The last two winter previous to this one have been so long and so brutal, that I wasn't ready to face it again. 

This morning I ran up to Swords, and paused by the marsh. Even though it's still locked in ice, it is alive with sounds. Red winged blackbirds,  geese,  and the sound of the ice breaking and cracking filled the air. 

Soon, with a rise in temperature, that same air will be filled with the sound of spring peepers. 

I love early spring. Hope, anticipation and so many beautiful things to come.

 

Finding Peace

I don't really feel like myself unless I'm engaging in regular physical activity outside.  Snowshoes have recently saved my life.  The vast amount of snow, and until very recently, the temperatures have kept me inside, running only on the treadmill.  That's just not enough.  I need to be outside, among the trees and breathe in clean, fresh air. 

 

In the past week, I've visited almost all of my spring, summer and fall hunts

in the fields and forests across the road.  Yesterday I made it back to the beaver pond and way up high above the marsh.

 

Moving through the forest, in the soft, deep snow, there is just the shush, shush, shush of my snowshoes.  At the pond it is completely silent.  A place to be alone with my thoughts.

 

Something has been missing since Christmas, but I've found it again, and all it took was for me to get outside.