Beauty in the Cold

I went to the park for a couple hours the other day when the temperature climbed into the double digits. This cold weather has been hard on all of us. I found a sweet little raccoon all curled up like he was asleep, but he wasn't. He either froze to death or starved to death due to the weather, I assume. He was curled up on the bank next to a frozen stream.  It's supposed to reach the 40s tomorrow, which will make everyone want to run around in shorts and flip flops, but we're back down into the negative temps by Friday. In the midst of all this cold and snow, I'm thankful for the increasing amount of daylight, the birds singing their spring love songs, and brief opportunities to watch the deer walk through snowy fields.