First was my hike in the Hostýnské vrchy: a world turned to lace, snow on each branch like iron filings on a magnet, drifts like Sahara sand dunes, some up to my thighs, gentle snowfall all day.
Then I took a hike up my favorite trail right from my apartment and saw at least seven deer--stalked them a little, watched them bound so gracefully through the snow.
Thursday was a day off, so I caught a bus up to Dušná and hiked down the blue trail to Vsetin, slogging happily through drifts that covered the gaiters Dad made, sliding around on the steep parts. Snow everywhere, gorgeous views.
Friday I watched the huge flakes drift down outside my window as I wrote, then went out and made a snowman, shoveled snow (for the first time in 5 years), and took a night-time walk around the neighborhood where I kept stopping to just gaze in wonder at the huge flakes drifting up and down and sideways in the glow of the streetlights. People must have thought me crazy, standing there trying to catch the puffs of snow in my gloves--each mass made up of dozens of individual flakes clinging together.
Saturday morning all the trees had turned to cotton balls--shades of gray and white so surreal I almost cried with the beauty of it.
The sky turned blue. I thought I'd take a little walk around the neighborhood, and ended up on a hike to what I call the meadow at the top of the world, through a wonderland of cotton ball trees glowing in the sun, all the world blue and white.
Then, today: crosscountry skiing at Velké Karlovice on another brilliant blue-sky day, all the trees still flocked, roofs thick with snow, icicles in rows on eaves, and me gliding (slowly and rather ungracefully) through it all.
I am so happy to be here!
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