On Dec. 5, 2013, in Syracuse, N.Y., a green rose bush shared front lawn space with a diminishing snow pile.
Mother Nature gives us little reminders that she might be a little busy at these borders between the seasons.
In my front garden in my Syracuse city neighborhood of Eastwood, there is a rose bush that just won’t give up. Everything else around it is as brown as the dirt in the garden. This bush, though, is holding on to a burst of green leaves at the top of its 3-foot-body.
Several feet away sits a snow pile, augmented by my driveway shoveling when the white stuff came down last week. It is fighting a different battle as the Syracuse temperature has skyrocketed for the day, nearing 60 degrees as December heads toward its double-digits.
On the Thursday morning I snapped this picture, I am quite sure that fhe snow will lose its battle before the rose bush. The green leaves will be there when that bank of white has deposited every flake into the dormant lawn. Yes, by late Thursday afternoon, all traces of white were gone. But brown those leaves will turn, as inevitable as Thanksgiving gave way to Christmas.
However, the snow will rally faster, with reinforcements of similar character — cousins, if you will, because as we all are taught early in life, no two snowflakes are exactly alike –arriving way sooner than the next cycle of green on that rose bush.
Yes, as I awake this Saturday morning, just two days later, a thin layer of new snow has already arrived.
Mark Bialczak 
Well, it’s noon here and hasn’t hit 20 degrees yet. Your new snow is probably safe for awhile.
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Somehow it’s melted already, Cat, even though it still seems freezing to me.
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No snow in London – long may this continue – hate driving in the snow!
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Yes, the worst is when the snow is blowing and you can’t see a foot in front of you, Rachel. Hope it stays away from London.
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sent you an email earlier today Mark.
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I’ve been amazed here at how many of my plants kept putting out new growth even into late November. Now, there’s about 6 inches of snow on top of everything. Spring feels a long way away.
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All of this late growth makes me even more alarmed about climate change. I joke at times and say that Syracuse has become the new South Carolina, but really, I wonder if it’s been like that often here and I’m just noticing more because I started writing this blog and am more keen to all things around me. Thanks, SDS, and enjoy that snow.
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that rose bush is exactly how some people are in life, refusing to surrender to the harsh conditions around them. not their time quite yet. nice post, mark.
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Great observation, Beth. So many of us now must just keep pushing on after our lives have been changed for us by outside elements, just like our little rose bush.
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