Marshmallow World

We are in the midst of what I think of as "the tunnel", meaning the short, cold and often snowy days of winter. I didn't invent the expression, but got it from author James Michener after reading one of his books back in my teenage days. It stuck with me! I am not fond of these winter days, but try to keep an upbeat attitude as much as I can. Here are some views from my doors that I woke up to this morning:

Fresh fallen snow is beautiful to look at and I am enjoying if for the moment but will soon be outside with my spouse shovelling our very long driveway so we can get out when we need to. I suspect it will be a bit less pretty to me then. At least it might work off some of those holiday calories I've been packing in all week long! We got about ten inches of it last night, thankfully the light fluffy kind.
Snow makes a good blanket for the garden and of course it is called the poor man's fertilizer. On the down side, two years ago the garden stayed snow-covered almost all winter and it provided a nice protected area for voles to live and breed. They were terrible in the garden that year! By contrast, last winter we saw almost no snow. I believe that allowed the voles to come out foraging more and be caught by predators so they weren't much of a problem at all this year. But gardeners have to work with what nature sends us, so I'll try to focus on the snow's protective and fertilizing work!
Yesterday I received something that really cheered me up:

The first seeds of the season! I ordered these only two days ago! It is the smallest of my orders by far; I always go a little crazy with seeds but there are worse habits I guess! Best of these is the large bag of Fresh Pick green beans. I love these beans and was dismayed to find them dropped from Johnny's catalogue this year. Thankfully they were still offered online. I think these may be remainders from last year as the germination percentage is a bit less than I'd expect but I don't care, I'm just happy to have them again! I hope  this isn't the last year I can get them. It's about a month til the first seeds are started around here and I am itching to get to it! I have a new toy to try out. I bought a small heating mat for seed starting and can't wait to see if it really shortens some of the germination times. Meanwhile the arrival of those small packages of goodies plus reading and re-reading the catalogues and garden books will have to carry me through!