Snow Magic

My sweetie's snowbeing.

Wow - it snowed this morning in Texas!
(Friday, February 4, 2011)

There's something about sparkly, white snow that brings a twinkle to my eyes and fills my heart with joy...

Maybe it's the purity of the snow when it's fresh. Maybe it's the magical way it sparkles in the sun. Maybe it's the miracle of falling water turning into elegant crystals that drift lazily from the sky to blanket the land. Maybe it's the fun memories I have of playing in it. Maybe it's just that it so rarely happens here...

Snow on our bamboo.

I can almost hear the plants sighing in the cold, yet with a gentleness that's connected to the beauty of it all. How could they feel anything but bliss at the newness and freshness of snow?

 

Our sweet rosemary plant is reaching up tall to the warm sunshine beginning to drizzle down as the morning progresses, as if to say "Hey - it's cold down here! Shine on, my friend!"

Rosemary in an old wheelbarrow.

The winter ground takes on a whole new look when it's blanketed with white snow: brown leaves from our trees and the wooden garden edging in our front yard look like a work of art when covered with snow.

Garden edging.

St. Francis greets the brave birds that are flitting about looking for food around our feeders...

St. Francis statue in front bird sanctuary.

...but they won't have any luck with water! This is our bird bath, frozen and covered with a light blanket of snow.

The unique bird bath my sweetie found at a weird Austin store.

Even our water hose looks pretty in the snow!

Today, this fresh, white snow became an opening into more love. And it reminds me that everything is an opening into more love... The line from my spiritual teacher's song resurfaces:

"Choose as love what is..."