We were returning from a short walk in new fallen snow when I spotted our tracks. We had ventured outside right in our neighborhood near Silver Lake in Bellingham, MA, where an old trolley line railbed still stands in the woods near our house. The rail bed is a straight line; the path our footprints followed was not. Despite the clear template of the railbed, our footsteps wandered back and forth through the snow.
I smiled. No, we people do not stick to the lines set out before us. There was much to see on this day after a heavy snow. Multiple witch hazel shrubs were weighed down in the snow, their fall blossoms of a few weeks before now frozen and discarded as winter sets in.
The stream that this summer had been bone dry is now filled, nearly overflowing its banks, as it tumbles through the adjacent woodland.
We spotted one other set of tracks, snow shoes, which I later confirmed belonged to my neighbor, who had gotten out earlier than we had.
The snow was deep, more difficult to navigate than what remained in our yard. Could it simply be a matter of what the wind blew? Our house is at the top of a hill, an esker, while the trolley line path is below, next to the wetlands that offer in spring the orchestra of spring peepers.
In this time with new fallen snow, the loudest sound was silence. Snow muffled nearby road noise. Still air held the cold. The tumbling of the stream over rocks created that oh, so sweet gentle symphony of rushing water as it made its way to the Peters River, and eventually to the Blackstone River, miles south of us.
Thus winter begins in earnest. It will not stay this way–rain will soon wash snow into the streams, filling them to the brim. More snow may arrive, or not. We wait and wonder. Watch your step, and happy trails!
Marjorie
Marjorie Turner Hollman is a writer who loves the outdoors, and is the author of Easy Walks in Massachusetts, 2nd edition, More Easy Walks in Massachusetts, 2nd edition, Easy Walks and Paddles in the Ten Mile River Watershed, and Finding Easy Walks Wherever You Are. Her memoir, the backstory of Easy Walks, is My Liturgy of Easy Walks: Finding the Sacred in Everyday (and some very strange) Places.
She has been a freelance writer for numerous local, regional, and national publications for the past 20+ years, has helped numerous families to save their stories, and has recorded multiple veterans oral histories, now housed at the Library of Congress.
Marjorie Turner Hollman 
So beautiful……
Thank you!
I FELT THE PEACE OF YOUR WOODS IN THIS ARTICLE, MARJORIE. I’M TRYING TO GRASP THE SMELL YOUR STORY INSPIRED. YOU PUCKERED MY NOSE!! THANK YOU.
Charm
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Hah! I added the sounds of a burbling brook in the link, plus the sound of spring peepers, hope for the spring, but could not figure out a scratch and sniff 😉 Merry Christmas!
This makes me so nostalgic for New England winters! I have been outdoors gardening in 60-degree weather for the past three days. Lovely, but there is nothing like sitting by the fire in a cozy house and watching the snow fall.
I knew, growing up in S. Florida, that I was missing something really special. Since moving here to New England for college, I have never ceased to wonder at the miracle of snow. It really is wondrous. Thanks for reading and commenting. Merry Christmas!
Lovely post, Marjorie. Almost ALMOST made me wish to experience it. Got ahold of myself, though.
🙂 🙂 INdeed, while I understand, I am still glad to live in a place where there is sure to be snow. Thanks for reading and commenting. Merry Christmas!
Lovely post, Marjorie! Almost ALMOST made me nostalgic for New England winter. Then I got a hold of myself.
Lovely post, Marjorie! Almost ALMOST made me nostalgic for New England winter. Then I got a hold of myself!