Snowshoeing into 2015

I ended 2014 snowshoeing through the English Gardens. We had three or so days in a row of snow which laid down a good bed for walking through - marching is more like it when you're wearing snowshoes. The gardens are surrounded at most points by woods as in the picture below.

With all these woods I find it strange that I've never seen any wild animals except squirrels and birds. I almost saw a mole once. There are mole hills all over the open fields of the garden and one of them was moving as I walked by last summer. I see these woods and expect to see rabbits at least, but also a fox or deer.

As soon as I got past the initial woods across the street from our apartment I saw this:

This is a Sylvester Igloo. (Sylvester is what the Germans call the New Year celebration.) When I first walked by this, it was just a wall built with blocks of snow. The next day the igloo had been completed. Our New Year's Eve was pretty quiet. I got some writing done on my novel then tried to stay awake until midnight. We could see fireworks from our apartment windows. They are pretty intense going constantly for about 20-25 minutes. It was cloudy so the sky lit up and the fireworks themselves reflected in the neighboring buildings' windows. The poor crows that live in our trees didn't know what to do. They were so scared I felt sorry for them. The explosions echoed in our courtyard sending them flying every which way, landing, then taking off again.

Back to snowshoeing. When I turned around from the igloo this is what I saw:

Although you can barely see it in this small picture, in almost the exact center, the second highest structure is the Monopteros. I decided to walk (march) over to it to check out the view. I went the long way by the pond, river and waterfall. Near the waterfall are a few benches. On one of the benches was a surprise:

I don't know if this is evidence of a hot time in the old garden tonight or what, but it makes a nice artsy picture. I hope it's not the aftermath of a tryst, not for any moral reasons, but because, well, brrrrrr . . .

On to the Monopteros. I had to climb a small hill to get the view, It was not as difficult as I expected and it was worth it.

From up here, Doug says, the view probably hasn't changed much in the last hundred or more years. Old church spires can be seen peeking above the trees surrounding (and in) the garden (as seen in the next picture). New Year's revelers sat up here to watch the fireworks and probably had a great view.

I spent from an hour to an hour and a half snowshoeing three days in a row taking advantage of the perfect snow. At its deepest it was up to my upper shins. The first day I walked on the trails for a half hour or so then put on my snowshoes and went through the open fields. The second day it had snowed so much I put them on before I crossed the street to the garden. I stayed on the south side of the park this week. After the next snowfall that's worth trekking through I'll walk to the north end (about a 20 minute walk) then put them on and enjoy the open space over there. Fewer people walk on that end so I'll feel more remote.

Happy New Year from Laura.