It was a quiet Saturday morning. Looking out the living room window through the woods, I could see the occasional car heading up or down the street. They were few, far between, going very slowly, and still looked like they were slipping around. Fortunately, my morning meeting had been cancelled so I could stay at home and didn't need to worry about driving. Wesley, are large white half Labrador Retriever, half Great Pyrenees had spent much of the morning romping through the fresh powder.

In the early afternoon, as the snow was still coming down, we trekked up the driveway, onto the little path through the woods to our neighbor's house. The little path had been well worn by our dogs, by Fiona, and in previous years by other daughters that had lived in these houses. Our neighbor is of Scandinavian descent and has a hot tub behind her house. It felt like we were connecting with a tradition from years long past of neighbors gathering to enjoy hot tubs or saunas during snow storms.

We gathered in the hot tub to enjoy the end of the snow storm. I remembered a sauna that I had visited in Holland years ago. It was during a light snow storm, and we went from hot pools to cold water, the steam baths to dry saunas.

As the snow storm ebbed, a red tailed hawk flew to a nearby tree to perch and look for prey.