The AMS :: ATX blog will be going dark for a few weeks for winter break, so we hope everyone has a restful and relaxing holiday season.

The Snowfall is So SilentThe snowfall is so silent,so slow,bit by bit, with delicacyit settles down on the earthand covers over the fields.The silent snow comes downwhite and weightless;snowfall makes no noise,falls as forgetting falls,flake after flake.It covers the fields gentlywhile frost attacks themwith its sudden flashes of white;covers everything with its pureand silent covering;not one thing on the groundanywhere escapes it.And wherever it falls it stays,content and gay,for snow does not slip offas rain does,but it stays and sinks in.The flakes are skyflowers,pale lilies from the clouds,that wither on earth.They come down blossomingbut then so quicklythey are gone;they bloom only on the peak,above the mountains,and make the earth feel heavierwhen they die inside.Snow, delicate snow,that falls with such lightnesson the head,on the feelings,come and cover over the sadnessthat lies always in my reason.Miguel de Unamuno