small snowman in a sad landscape

this afternoon we took w to lake mountain for his first glimpse of snow - and a glimpse was pretty much it, seeing it's october. we were lucky to see any as snow is a novelty in australia and is usually only around from june to the end of august. thanks to the freezing cold and rainy weather we have had lately there was still enough lying around for a 5 year old to play in.

the snow was sparse but enough to make a few snowballs and the world's smallest snowman.
while w had fun the scrumpster and i were sobered into silence by the unrelenting stark blackness of the landscape. lake mountain rises above marysville - one of the hill towns that was destroyed in the black saturday bushfires eight months ago. further down the mountain the black tree trunks were covered in feathery green new growth but up on top of the mountain it is still black sticks with little sign of life.
but as the snow recedes you can see the green that will come