Day One: Clumps of Slush

I'm starting my third annual sit spot challenge today. It appears to be turning into an annual rite of spring for me, to which I look forward and for which I'm grateful. My sit spot is on a branch in a grand white pine in my backyard. As I walked out to my sit spot, I was keenly aware that my time outside today, and each day of the sit, is at the mercy of another. We have a new little lass of four months, who might decide at any moment that it's time for me to come in. I was glad for whatever amount of time I would get outside today. Heavy, wet snow fell on our region today, reclaiming the vast areas of bare earth we've been gifted for the past week. Passing over my tracks from earlier today, I spotted green grass in the tracks where the wet snow had clung to my boot and been carried off, exposing the ground beneath. The wet pine needles clung to each other and hung down heavily, like strands of wet hair. I climbed into the tree, ascended the few feet to my sitting branch, wiped off the slush resting on it, and sat down in my snow pants. The first thing that presented itself to me was the slender branch of the young maple whose leafing out progress I had the slow pleasure of watching last year. At present, it holds bare branches up to the sky. Clumps of slush and icy snow plummeted down around me intermittently from the higher branches as the wind blew. One clump landed on the branch just above my face, spraying me suddenly with cool drops across my forehead and eyes. I startled at it, but it was not unpleasant, only surprising, and helped me to understand why my little daughter doesn't always cry at the things that make her jump. The sound of dripping filled the intervals between the crashing of the snow, as did the songs of chickadee, robin, and one I didn't know. The heavy taste of pizza lay on my tongue. My nose began to drip. I felt the heaviness of my legs hanging down, and the slight tingling in my fingertips from the cold. As I walked back to the house, I noted that my tracks from earlier today had been filled in almost entirely from the north side (where the wind originated) with snow, leaving funny tracks, about ½ inch wide and 10 inches long.