The Snow is Gone

In the course of just two sunny days, all our snow has vanished. I can't remember a faster break-up. The layers of volcanic dust helped the sun eat away at our last patches and now we can say that the winter is past.

Not that spring is here yet.

The melted snow leaves a monochromatic world of dead vegetation punctuated by skiffs of moon-gray volcanic dust. Break-up is never a pretty season and this year is even worse. While the rest of the country seems to be enjoying blooming flowers and budding trees, we are revisiting the dull-dead end of autumn.