The Marsh in Winter

It was morning, and I was driving east, into the light. It was like a little slice of heaven, being back in my own car again. I've got my wheels! I'm free! And so what did I do first? Why, of course, I had to visit one of the places I have not been able to get to without my car all these weeks. So on this morning, I went back to Millbrook Marsh.

It snowed here from Friday into Saturday of last week. They got about six inches in town; we got a bit more than that out in the country, where we live. With a few slightly warmer days, the snow has already begun to melt, and it looks like far less than the amount it started out as.

In the few days since the snow arrived, lots of people have tramped through Millbrook while it was melting, and pressed it down into icy footprints. I found the wooden boardwalk at the marsh unexpectedly icy and treacherous on this morning. I walked slowly, picking my steps carefully.

Since I was driving again, and I had meetings to run, I had decided to dress up a bit for work. And so I was wearing a new blue velveteen dress over a black turtleneck and black leggings to visit the marsh. (Doesn't everyone visit the marsh while all dressed up?)

But on the treacherous boardwalk, I envisioned myself sliding, falling, and doing a (graceful or perhaps not so graceful) loop-de-loop, followed by a face-plant right down into the marsh. I pictured my legs sticking out of a snow bank, and someone eventually happening by and pulling me out by the toes. So much for the new blue dress!

Fortunately, though, none of those things happened. In fact, the marsh on this morning was rather chilly but very quiet. The last time I was there, the frost mist was rising delightfully; but not on this day. Neither did I catch a glimpse of Millbrook's deer, nor the charming little screech-owl that I met there one rainy day in December.

But the morning sun was starting with a bit of yellow behind the trees. And as I stood on the bridge over Thompson Run looking toward Mount Nittany, Millbrook - the marsh in winter - stretched before me . . . a kingdom of gold in the morning light.

The soundtrack: Mark Knopfler, with Kingdom of Gold.