The best kind of snow

THE SNOW had begun in the gloaming,

And busily all the night

Had been heaping field and highway

With a silence deep and white.

Every pine and fir and hemlock

Wore ermine too dear for an earl,

And the poorest twig on the elm-tree

Was ridged inch deep with pearl. 

-James Russell Lowell, The First Snow-Fall

Though I've been dreaming of Spring, the snow that fell last night made the waiting a little more bearable. It was the best kind of snow - light and fluffy like cake icing, coating the trees and lawn but not the road.

Snow always brings birds to the feeders, and this time I put the long lens on the camera and tried for some better pictures.