Normally in mid-January, it is no big deal to have a morning ramble with snow.

This is one of the oddest weather winters on record.

So the passing snow shower this morning brought some delight. It was cold enough that the snow was light enough in flake. It felt like it was almost spontaneously forming.

I had not expected the snow, so I think I relished it almost as much as Storm.

The edges of whiteness along the sidewalks and sides of the alleys seemed surreally brighter than usual.

Nothing unusual on the wildlife front. Out well before dawn, so I didn't expect much. And there wasn't.

Only the ruckus of the hundreds of geese swimming the lake open to the west. At one point, they made so much noise I thought they might be taking flight.

But no, only the snow.

Astonishingly, the wind has kept open the water under the bridge over the neckdown between the two old clay pits.

But otherwise the ice is generally walkable. That just explains why standing or walking on ice requires use of some common sense.

On the way back into town, a freight train came north bound, very slowly. I suspect it came slowly because the cold snap has done something to the tracks in spots. But I don't know for sure.

It's light was yellow diffused in the passing snow shower. Nice in its own right.