It's headed right for us!

Winter. Yes, it’s coming. In a mere 43 days, I will pause for winter solstice, to mourn the loss of abundant sunshine and warm weather.

Every winter, usually by January, I gawk at the size of the plow piles, these monstrous mounds of snow pushed to the sides of parking lots to wait for the Spring thaw. Then, when Spring finally decides to make an appearance, I make bets with myself as to how long it will take to melt. (Hey, mock me not. I am sure you have your own quirky things you do!)

So, since last Spring, this pile has been in the parking lot.



I waited and waited for this pile to disappear until I finally realized that it was never going to melt. It was all the sand left from the huge snow mound! Hmmm. That’s a lot of sand, I said to myself.

All spring and summer, I watched this mound with fascination. Nature decided to reclaim this dirt pile and sprouted with what I thought were mere weeds. When I asked my photographer friend, Michele, to come take a picture of this crazy mound, we were amazed by what we found!





Amidst the much expected weeds, cherry tomatoes and tomatillos found this a nice little sunny spot to sprout. Growing in the leftover sand pile of last year's snow!

How did those get there? Did the birds drop the seeds? Did little rodents scurry to the safety of the mound to eat their little tomato treasures? I can say with certainty that no human would decide to plant a little vegetable garden on this mass of leftover road sand. I am simply fascinated!

And I wonder how big this year’s snow pile is going to be!