Ice Storms

On Sunday night, the freezing rain came and the trees looked as if they had been encased in ice. The branches glittered and glowed, almost as if they were glass.
When I saw the apple tree in front of the house for the first time, it was early in the morning and the sun had not yet risen. In the dark, the branches glittered even more. The recently fallen snow sparkled beneath the partial moon with colors... the spectrum breaking apart beneath the faint light.
Beneath the thin layer of snow was ice...
... This ice had fallen everywhere...
... causing branches to fall in streets and yards... electrical wires came down... many people stayed at home while others went out onto the treacherous roadway... and there were more car accidents than usual.
It was a holiday, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. day.
It was cold, very cold... a good day to stay indoors and to reflect on civil rights and human rights. ... on Iraq and Afghanistan and Colombia and Guantanamo...
and on things closer to home, too...