Snow, at last

For the first time this winter, at the very end of February, I had to shovel the sidewalk after a mild snowstorm.
One admits winter passes faster when there's less inconvenience of snow removal, salt-stained boots, bitter-cold air that hits your lungs as you come out of your cocoon. Still, it's been a strange winter.
We managed to go for a few x-country trips this year, and I'm getting a little braver each time, forcing my tense & scared body to put myself on the tracks and relax into a breezy slide down those gentle slopes. It's a mental exercise more than anything, so they say. If that's true, why do I feel every muscle I have for days after?
No, that's not someone I know in the following picture. I just like it...