I was looking at pictures of the river and, glancing up, saw snowflakes drifting down from the gray of the heavens. I finished my breakfast and, walking back found the living room flooded with sunlight! An unexpected blessing this, for it was just yesterday I perused the ten day forecast, reading the word cloudy ten times.
I found myself instantly inspired, brewed my second cup in my Rambler and stronger than the first, grabbed coat and hat and was away. A morning riverwalk is best this time of year, at least when there is a gift of sunlight, for it turns south early such that my road is shadowed by the mountain.
As I reached the bank above Crooked Eddy, ice crystals danced in the glow, animating my view of the river – simply beautiful! The moment took me back to other views of these tiny snowflakes, lit by the morning sun, with their ability to stir the soul. I had watched them here one morning of my first winter in the Catskills, high on a Pennsylvania ridge where I searched for whitetails, and west toward the Laurel Highlands where I took a bright cock pheasant on my very first hunt behind a pointing dog so many years ago.
I found the tracks of a deer tracing the roads edge amid my own boot prints from yesterday, and then further down, another larger set. They seem to walk that edge as much as I!
Alas the glory of the sunlight soon battled with dark cloud masses advancing from the southwest, and the chill of the late January morning returned as the clouds won victory. I sipped the hot coffee and smiled to myself as I walked; my spirit refreshed by the lovely bright interlude!
Bright Waters Catskill 