Spicebush iced, home

Winter Storm Ursula bid us a fond farewell—OK, I was fond of the chance to get in a few more laps around my cross-country skiing track—overnight, and by the time the sun came up, the landscape was white and sparkly. In addition to several inches of snow, all the tree limbs wore a coating of ice that made the natural world crackle every time the wind blew. I put on long underwear and my heavy-duty winter boots—so much for an early spring—and trekked out into the backwoods to see how the plants, which had been growing fast in the unnatural warmth of March, were faring in the unanticipated cold. Two days ago, I wrote about the emergence of Spicebush flowers on those shrubs that love the wetter parts of the woods; today, they're still flowering, but they have the looked of blossoms preserved in glass. I preserved them in a photograph, but fear not... they're not cold-ruined history. They'll be fine—they just might not be pollinated as often since, for a few more days, the bees are going to be staying put in April shelters.