Winter

Samhain                                   Waning Wolf Moon

A light dusting of snow has given snowy caps to the rocks in our boulder wall and covered the potting bench like Wondra shaken out to coat a chicken breast.  This amount of snow emphasizes late fall by highlighting downed leaves, their brown color emphasizing the not-yet-winter feel of this early December Saturday.

Coming at a lower angle from the sky,  pale sunlight does tell the tale of seasonal change, filtered through a milky haze, giving the morning a starkness seen through leafless trees and their bare branches.  The thermometer, too, suggests winter.  We hit a low this morning of 13 degrees and the temperature stands now at 10:20 a.m. is 20.   This is ten degrees below normal.

October was cooler than normal; we had our first significant fall then.  November was warmer than normal and we had only a tiny snow fall in a month in which we usually 9-10 inches.  December is now substantially cooler.  This qualifies as strange weather.

Both NOAA and Paul Douglas predict some snowfall early next week as a strong storm system passes through Iowa, southern Minnesota and into Wisconsin.  We could see amounts in the range of 1-2 inches over 3 days. We get a white Christmas 3 years out of 4.  I hope this is one of them.  A blanket of snow makes the season merrier.

Gotta go now because I have to prepare a 3-minute speech on fair trade for a fair-trade rally.  I’m representing the Sierra Club and emphasizing the need for environmental regulations to travel with worker’s rights protections–both here and abroad–as goods and services cross international borders.