Yesterday we had the first snow of this year. We don't get snow every year in Atlanta, so you can imagine how happy people were especially it happened on the Weekend. It started sleeting in the morning, and the watery ice pellets began to mix with some big fluffy whites, and then it was just snow. Fluffy, white, heavy snowflakes were falling quietly in the cloudy morning. Our reddish-brown soil was soon covered by the beautiful white snow. Even through the closed windows, you could hear all the joyful yells and laughter from the kids all around our neighborhood.
We thought all of our garden animal friends would be hiding somewhere to avoid the snow. We were wrong. Our bird feeders had never been so crowded. Eastern bluebirds, pine warblers, downy woodpeckers, red-bellied woodpeckers, carolina wrens, house finches, chipping sparrows, tufted titmice, Carolina chickadees, cardinals, white-breasted nuthatches, brown-headed nuthatches, eastern towhee, mourning doves, brown thrashers, eastern phoebes, blue jays…even a flock of robins suddenly appeared out of nowhere foraging food with a crazy manner. Many of them came for the suet and nuts, while the mealworms seemed to have fallen out of favor since it gets colder. Squirrels were also hopping around in the snow. They did not care for the apples that we prepared for them but focused only on the high calories nutty food.
Our ponds formed a thin layer of ice. As it happened last year too, we were not worried about the fish underneath. They had enough depth to stay warm and food in the water. Everything was just so beautiful once they were touched by the magic of snow. With the cute white "hats" on all these bare trees branches, houses, lawns, flower pots, pavers, the happy mixed noises of birds, the gentle squish sounds that you walk in the soft snow, the light touch of snow that melts into your hair and flew into your mouth and eyes, the crispy air, the red holly and Nandina berries showing out of white snow and green leaves, the Snowdrop standing out of the snow by the pond…our garden has turned into a winter wonderland.
We put on our warmest clothes, hats, and gloves to take a walk outside. We rolled a giant snowball, made a snowman with a neighborhood boy, and had snowball fights with each other. When we came back home, we set up the fire and had a hotpot for dinner. It felt like a holiday, only better than any manmade ones.
Weather Report: H 34F L:29 F, Just snowed yesterday, it feels really cold with strong winds.
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