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+The mild winter of 2023-2024 brought very little snow to Wisconsin. We watched the weather for months, waiting for more snow to fall but it never did. Last year we arrived in Washburn after Memorial Day and there were still patches of snow in the deep shade of the woods. This year we headed up April 1.
+
+So far as I have been able to discover, there is only one Wisconsin state park that opens this early and as luck would have it, it's right where we wanted to be to visit some friends. We headed north from [Ferne Clyffe](https://luxagraf.net/jrnl/2024/03/illinois-cliffs), stopped off for a night in Rockford, and made it up to Hartman Creek State Park the day it opened. 
+
+The forecast called for some rain that afternoon, but on the drive in I hit a few snow flurries and the temperature dropped to unpleasant levels for driving the bus (the heater in the bus has never worked). The last few miles the "rain" alternated between sleet and snow, and by the time we pulled into camp it was steady snow. 
+
+<img src="images/2025/2024-04-01_162338_hartman-creek.jpg" id="image-4065" class="picwide" />
+
+This was only the second time we've hit snow in our travels, though we've had plenty of days at or below freezing. But none of us were ready for ten inches of snow, which is what we got at Hartman Creek. The snow didn't let up much in the night and was back at the next morning, continuing all through the day.
+
+<img src="images/2025/2024-04-01_161713_hartman-creek.jpg" id="image-4064" class="picwide" />
+
+We had the campground to ourselves. Two other people had brought out their rigs, but they seemed to be locals claiming a spot. They left their rigs and went (I assume) home. It was just us and the snow.
+
+<img src="images/2025/2024-04-01_163339_hartman-creek.jpg" id="image-4066" class="picwide" />
+
+I forgot how utter silent the world is when it snows. Even the simple act of walking seems an unforgivable intrusion on the silence.
+
+<div class="self-embed-container embedwide">
+	<video poster="https://luxagraf.net/media/images/videos/2024/spring-snow-fall-poster.jpg" controls="true" loop="false" preload="auto" id="28" class="vidautovid">
+		<source src="https://luxagraf.net/media/images/videos/2024/Spring_Snow_Fall.webm" type="video/webm">
+		<source src="https://luxagraf.net/media/images/videos/2024/Spring_Snow_Fall.mp4" type="video/mp4">
+		Your browser does not support video playback via HTML5.
+	</video>
+</div>
+
+I have no way to photograph it, but we put the snow under the loupes to see the fractal patterns, the tiny geometric order scattered about in the chaos of wind, often blowing out of my hand before I could even focus on it. 
+
+The heavy wet snows of spring never last long.Gloriously clear, much warmer, days came sweeping though just days later.
+
+<img src="images/2025/2024-04-05_150309_hartman-creek.jpg" id="image-4067" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2025/2024-04-08_072914_hartman-creek.jpg" id="image-4068" class="picwide" />
+
+Once again we'd reset the seasonal clock, the trees still bare, buds present, but tightly sealed up yet. 
+
+<img src="images/2025/2024-04-25_143728_hartman-creek.jpg" id="image-4069" class="picwide" />
+
+It was time to keep moving north. We had one final drive, to Washburn, where we'd once again spend the summer. We packed up, said see you later to our friends, and headed on down the road, ever northward.
diff --git a/jrnl/2024-12-11_snow.txt b/jrnl/2024-12-11_snow.txt
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+Snow brings a stillness to the world. Life hides away, burrowed under, tucked in. Sound is muted, lost in the hush of falling flakes. Only the soft brush of wind through the pines.
+
+I would like to say that Winter's first snow dumped a substantive number of feet, but it did not. It dumped a few inches. Not much, but it is something. An imitation of winter. It may well be that that's all winter is anymore, an imitation of what once was. Things are always changing, not always in the way we want. Only the future knows for sure, but I do feel a certain foreboding of doom for the person I saw driving the car with the bumper sticker "F**k Summer."
+
+<img src="images/2025/2024-12-14_081623_lake-ice.jpg" id="image-4079" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2025/2024-12-01_164240-2_first-snow.jpg" id="image-4072" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2025/2024-12-01_160624_first-snow.jpg" id="image-4070" class="picwide" />
+
+For the most part, this is why we are here, to experience the winter, which in my family was supposed to be a synonym for snow. Alas Wisconsin winter is also a synonym for gray, sunless, and cold, with or without snow.
+
+This is part of why this world needs snow. Snow bathes the world in white, reflecting and multiplying the scant light on gray days. You need the snow to overcome the gray skies.
+
+Light or no, the kids have done their best to get out and enjoy what little snow we've had.
+
+<img src="images/2025/2024-12-13_130026_lake-ice.jpg" id="image-4077" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2025/2024-12-15_092948_lake-ice.jpg" id="image-4080" class="picwide" />
+
+Snow is also a buffer against the wind and cold for plants and animals. And us. Plenty more pipes freezing without a blanket of snow to insulate the ground from the worst of the cold. The frost here can reach many feet down into the soil by midwinter. 
+
+More snow on the ground lingers longer in spring, insulating the soil, keeping it warmer longer through march freezes. Without it, it takes longer for seeds to germinate, roots to come to life, sap to thaw.
+
+<img src="images/2025/2024-12-01_164116-2_first-snow.jpg" id="image-4071" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2025/2024-12-12_091433_lake-ice.jpg" id="image-4075" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2025/2024-12-12_091549_lake-ice.jpg" id="image-4076" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2025/2024-12-13_131616_lake-ice.jpg" id="image-4078" class="picwide" />
+
+There have been a couple of sunny days. One of them saw flocks of swans swimming by our beach. Further up the bay things get shallower and the water is already covered in ice and snow, but water still flows free in front of our cabin, which brings the bird life to us. Swans, Goldeneyes, Ravens, and Bald Eagles are all frequently around on the lake, along with Chickadees in the woods.
+
+<img src="images/2025/2024-12-12_091206_lake-ice.jpg" id="image-4074" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2025/2024-12-05_103945_lake-ice.jpg" id="image-4073" class="picwide" />
+
+The ice on the shore in the photo above lasted a few days, but as of this writing, the lake in front of us remains ice-free. A few days after the first snow it warmed up again and a hard rain washed it all away. Around Christmas it turned cold again and dropped a few more inches of snow, but once again it warmed up and the snow disappeared. 
+
+As I write this winter is well underway and there is still little more than a light dusting of snow on the ground, about the same amount of snow we got [a few years ago in South Carolina](https://luxagraf.net/jrnl/2022/02/ice-storm). I am still hoping for one good blizzard, but we'll see.