This dusting of snow is not enough to call in, to claim that the sloped driveway is too slick and roads are too hazardous. Instead of another hour or two of sleep, followed by a lengthy tour of the snow covered garden, I must go to work. Almost certainly, the light snow will be gone by late afternoon when I return home.

In this shaded garden snow melts slowly. Typically the neighborhood will be green for days and this property is still white, but this very light snow will be gone quickly.

An inch of snow, or several, are welcomed to cover the brown of the winter garden. Deeper snows often require getting out at first light to shake heavy, wet snow from arching branches of evergreens, but this dusting is only enough the claim the season’s first snow.