Two Paths Diverged in a Snowy Wood

Two paths diverged in a snowy wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be home in time for a nice, hot lunch,
I took the one to the left because -
Hey - it led downhill -
So I thought it would be easier,
But it turns out . . . it wasn't.
You know what?
Isn't that life?
With all apologies to Robert Frost . . .


We got a little snow the other day. Not a lot. Just a few inches overnight Thursday night into Friday morning. We had a few very cold nights in a row, and then there was a warming. With Sunday's temperatures back up in the 20s F, it practically felt like bikini weather (comparatively speaking). Or at least a chance to get out and enjoy the woods before the next round of wintry weather that was predicted to hit our area on Monday.

So off we went to the gamelands, my husband jogging, me hiking with my camera. Last weekend when we were there, it drizzled and dripped, and then it poured; and I spent most of my walk worrying about keeping the camera dry.

On this day, there was no precipitation, but it wasn't really clear. It had that heavy-sky feeling that you sometimes get in winter: a bit gray, the feeling of the next bout of weather hanging somewhere overhead, waiting to occur.

This is a scene just inside the entrance to the gamelands. Several paths diverge; there is actually a third choice just outside the left edge of the photo. The path on the right goes out along the top of the hill, while the one on the left goes down the hill and into the woods. Both are fine choices, and my husband picked the high road, while I picked the low road. 

I was laughing to myself, mangling Robert Frost's famous poem in a hundred silly ways in my head. And another thought came to mind as my husband disappeared up the hill and out of sight . . . Oh, ye'll take the high road, and I'll take the low road . . .

So the song to accompany this image is a favorite from childhood: Loch Lomond. It's hard to pick just one version, so here are two: one by the Corries, and the other by a group called Runrig.

P.S. Here's what this same scene looked like around this same time two years ago, in different light and with less snow.