It arrives at last. Our first decent snow of the season, hopefully not the last. A drop in the bucket for all we lack, but a sign of hope.

On a certain understanding it’s like a farm family seeing the rain after a near crop-killing drought. It does not repair all the dry spell, but it can and does for a moment give us hope.

Our forests here need the snow no less than Iowa needs the rain. The other option is a summer of closed forests and potentially life-threatening forest fires.

So while non-locals complain, those of us that call Flagstaff and the mountains of Northern Arizona home see it as a thankful blessing.

A beginning... we silently hope... of a real winter.