Today’s piece comes from my good friend Jean Bussell. She and her husband Harold recently finished their memoirs. This section comes from Jean’s reflections on life. I hope you all will enjoy this as much as I did.
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Snow Globe
It snowed overnight at the farm and left an inch of beautiful white dust outside. It continues to snow as I write. And so—the snow globe effect is on!
We have windows on three sides of our great room and on both sides of me where I sit in our office. As it snows, it is easy to imagine myself inside a huge snow globe! It is magical to see the gloom of a cloudy day and browned grass and bare trees of winter disappear under the coat of snow. As we approach four inches today, the railings and ramp of our deck are covered. The fountain in the courtyard is full of snow. The limbs on the trees in the park by the creek are laden with snow, and their trunks begin to match the white of the sycamore trees. To the west I can see the tips of the corn rows peeking out from their own blanket of snow. Too bad it is Sunday, and the German Baptist Brethren children who live in the old Gauch family farm across the road will not be able to go out and make snow angels and snowmen. Perhaps their home school recess tomorrow will give them their chance to play. And perhaps Harold and I will go out for a walk in the snow, although disturbing its quiet, smooth beauty may discourage me from doing so.
Soon the snow globe will fade away, spring plants will begin to emerge from the earth, flowers—especially my beloved peonies—will thrust their buds upward, the grass and trees will turn into their stunning spring green, and Harold will begin planting the teepee garden for a new year.
Then the days of summer will bring bright green grass, trees full of leaves, flowers in full bloom, and harvests of all the bounty of Harold’s garden, including the blackberry bushes.
And then my favorite season will arrive: my birthday season! Though it beckons winter, I celebrate the awesome colors of autumn at the farm—the reds, browns, golds, oranges, in all their shades. The smell of the leaves as they gather in piles along the lane, the sound as they crunch under my feet, the surprise of late blooming flowers that don’t give up until the temperatures begin to freeze—these things create the best season for me.
And then soon…the snow globe will return.
