Despite the "bleak midwinter"—OK, actually, by the calendar, winter is still in its infancy—chill—2nd OK: by my records, it should be downright frigid, so chilly is truly a signature of global warming—there's life yet in these old igneous rocks that form the height of land at a new refuge in the Avalonia conservancy portfolio. There are crustose and foliose lichens clinging to and slowly dissolving the rock surfaces, and when they've succeeded in crafting the merest hint of soil, the mosses can take over and thrive. But these aren't very dramatic forms of life, so when my grandkids scanned the outcrop, they were drawn to the little cave in which, they speculated, might live... Well, what? I suggested a hibernating snake, but they had other, more imaginative ideas. They weren't, however, inclined to snake a hand into the darkness and see what might be pulled into the light.