Winter seemed to be slipping quietly out of the door, but evidently it still has business here. The forest floor is transformed.
Where-ever dark objects protrude, they soak the sun’s weak heat. Gradually the surrounding snow sublimates, leaving sleeves of empty space around twigs and leaves.
The nascent growth of spring wildflowers is checked. Buds and furled leaves endure, listening for the click of the door.
David George Haskell 
Reblogged this on Sewanee Herbarium and commented:
I set out on a hike yesterday afternoon to see and experience Shakerag Hollow under a blanket of snow. I wanted to witness for myself the new life of the early spring wildflowers struggling through the sort of “real” winter weather that we have seen so infrequently this year.
I also had every intention of photographing and blogging about that experience, but, of course I found myself in the cove without a camera. Luckily, I wasn’t alone in my desire to see the snow in Shakerag Hollow. And you are lucky enough to be able to read what David Haskell had to say about the experiences and to see his photographs–a definite improvement over anything I would have come up with.
An employee of mine accompanied her husband to a conference near the Smokies, and reported snow in the mountains as she was returning to the snow-free northern Piedmont.
I’ll bet the Smokies got a good covering. They get snow even when things are pretty warm here.
We loved your book The Forest Unseen. We would like to buy a hand lens. Can you recommend a good one? Thank you.
Thank you!
I mostly use a old 1” Bausch and Lomb lens. It is a 3x and 4x (two lenses in one case). This is not a super high quality lens in terms of optics, but it works well in the field. The lenses at http://www.bioquip.com/Search/DispProduct.asp?pid=1129P are similar. And the one at http://www.opticsplanet.com/bausch-lomb-pocket-two-lens-magnifier.html might in fact be the same item that I use.
Have fun with the lens…it really opens up a new world.