Silent Snow

Letter XIII ~ Winter

Dear Yggdrasil,

Today it finally snowed. I went outside to feel the intricate flocks on my face and thought of them cloaking your branches. Although I cannot reach you across the dark ice that coats the roads around me, I am sure you will be enjoying this reminder that not all seasonal cues are lost yet as much as I am.

Temperatures may rise tomorrow, and the snow’s visit may be short, but for today let us enjoy it. I will walk as far as I can manage, watching it coat the rooves around me, before returning to hot chocolate in bed.

***
A few days have passed and the snow has melted to a damp fog. I have been thinking a lot about the dwindling visits of this gentle companion. Even in the Alps, where I spent so much time as a child, the glaciers are retreating and the seasons dissolving. Soon the familiar ice planes will have retreated beyond the horizon. It is said that over 40% of Europe’s glacier mass has been lost since I walked there as a child 20 years ago. I do not wish to go back and see it.

All I wish is for the urgency of this situation to be finally understood.

Hello Friends!

There will be a pause in Letters to a Tree until February, while I focus on my health. In the meantime, if you have been affected by what I have shared about the retreat of glaciers due to the climate crisis, I recommend watching Alpine Quest to learn more from women who live and work there. Yggdrasil will be ready for us when we return…