December ice and now snow

You may have heard about or lived through the recent ice storm here in the Northeast. Our town was hit hard, though it was at the edge of the storm. Drive a few miles in any direction but north and the damage was far less.

We awoke last Friday at 3am to the frequent sound of trees cracking, bending, and sometimes falling. We waited for one to hit the roof, though that never happened. Many people likened it to gunshots in a war zone. We lost power for 6 days; thousands in the area are still without it. Please pray for them.

The next morning we saw the crystal coating forcing all to bend beneath it. The birches especially yielded low but did not break, while the hardwoods simply snapped. Branches were scattered everywhere.

By noontime the sun ignited the ice, and a stiff wind blew it off the trees in bursts of sparkling, pelting showers. The trees groaned again.

Still, it was beautiful. The light was so brilliant, and world so transformed, as if I were no longer home. And the ice is fleeting; already it is gone. And now as I type, we are being blanketed by a foot of snow.