Here in Connecticut, as in many parts of the U.S. recently, we’re in the midst of a winter storm. It’s my first of the season.

Nearly half a foot of snow fell earlier this evening, leaving a white blanket across my parents’ yard and an icing of white on the pines out back. It was beautiful to observe out the kitchen window, particular with the glow of Christmas lights on various shrubs and trees in the yard peeping out from beneath the white coverlet.

Not long after midnight, the snow stopped, but the wind picked up, blowing over my parents’ ridge like a train (or a hurricane). The sound is surprisingly ceaseless, like a jet doing constant loops over the house. Although periodically I can hear the gusts roar down the bank and break against the house, most of the winds must be high up. Between gusts, the trees are not waving the way I’d expected them to be given the noise.

I hope we keep power, but if there’s no three beautiful things post later today, you’ll know why.