Sunday morning brings the season's first snow

"Whose woods these are I think I know.  His house is in the village though.  He will not see me stopping here to watch his woods fill up with snow." – Robert Frost, Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening

SUNDAY MORNING, DEC. 8 - For a few morning hours, an amazing variety of snow fell over Delaware's Cape Region.  By 10:30, the flakes were the size of fifty-cent pieces, slushing the highways, frosting the branches of cedars and pines, softening the leaves in the woods. All mixed in were ice pellets, sleet and rain.

Back in the woods of Cape Henlopen State Park, I flushed an owl from its daytime perch.  In total silence, like the flakes hitting the ground, it careened through the trees, staying close to the edge of the forest where it meets the marsh along the canal. Then, as quickly and quietly as it appeared, it disappeared.

Here are some photos from the season's first snowfall, taken before the temperature rose and returned the winter scenery to its browns and grays and greens.