Rural

Each morning when I look out the window at the vast coating of white that has been hiding our landscape for too long...I think two things to myself. We have no choice but to outwait Winter It's only going to last as long as it does, and two, I can either complain or do something about it... There's not much we can do to change the weather, it's here for as long as it wishes. Leaving this cold climate for a warmer one isn't an option, but I can look go outside and look for changes in the landscape. T here are subtle signs of spring starting to show up  Fresh alder catkins are springing from previously bare branches, newly littered with melting snowdrops that have fallen from the sky. Fluffy pussy willows, which had burst open from their winter hibernation before retreating  back to dormancy, and sullenly shivering on the bare branches are  once again showing sheer delight over the thought of spring.  In the forest, the trees are