We have been experiencing our first dustings of snow the past couple of days.  The air is cold enough and the ground is frozen enough for these first sparse flakes to stay.  What I love about being out early(-ish), when the ground is powdered with snow, is the evidence of the invisible, the things and people that have wandered the same ground before me.  Things that I don’t usually see leave traces of their progress.  The hopping trail of a bird that ends with swishes of disturbed snow to indicate its flight.  The jumping pattern that the rabbits and squirrels leave that show their back paws landing in front of their forepaws before bracing for another leap.  Tiny footprints and a little tail swish that show a mouse has dashed through.  It is a map of each individual’s movements.  In a way it is like nature is unintentionally giving up its secrets.  So, too, there is something amazing about looking at an untouched expanse of snow knowing your the first one to wander down the path that morning.