The coldest, most delightful wood

Some days after work I just want to read and drink hot apple cider. Yesterday was one of those days. But I'm glad it didn't work out that way. You see, yesterday I got to help my friend usher in a new stage in his life.

It started a week or two ago. He said he'd like help on his engagement and that he'd bought a ring, and it was only a matter of time. I said, "anything!"
That brings us to two days ago, planning for a day later in the week. I would photograph his proposal secretly! Then a day later, in the afternoon, plans change: "can we do this today?"

Engage hyper drive: complete errands on the way home, and pick up lens from a friend with 20 minutes to play around with it. Everything in place finally.

Plans fail immediately, and I lose them on the way there.  Hopefully they don't see me pull in the parking lot.  I stall to make sure I arrive late enough.  Next problem: how do I carry my tripod, camera and the ring box, while xc skiing?  Split-second decision: poles are for the weak.

Let me paint a picture for you.  A tall, gangly, Carhart suit, ski mask wearing man skis along alone clutching a small box, tripod and camera bag.  He hurtles along the trail, up and down hills rather bumpily and without decorum or grace, because he is at least a year out of practice.  Luckily, he meets no one on the trails.

Having reached my destination, I clear snow away to create a small spot out on a bench under a light pole and place the hand-made box down gently, containing a sparkly, shiny diamond ring.

Ninja-mode engage.  I am become the woods.  I am the snowflake that nestles on the logs and leaves and branches.  I am all snowflakes and I am none of them.  Well off the trail, I ditch my skis and settle behind a snow covered, frozen pile of brush.  In between two light-bathed trees lies the snow covered bench of destiny.  My camera and borrowed lens sit atop the tripod, waiting in anxious anticipation.  I take some test footage and admire the beauty that is a lonesome, cold bench in a sea of trees cracking, bending and whining from the cold wind.

I lie in wait for my prey, patting down a bed for myself in the snow.  As they come up the trail, I press record, pray, and lie down, peeking periodically to make sure they're in the frame.

My friend suavely pulls over and begins brushing the snow off the bench making room for his beloved.  They sit, an awkward task with skis and she notices the box.  BAM! I lie in silence, listening to the wind and the trees and the snow crunching.  There is cold, and there is bliss--I don't notice the cold.

Adorable engagement shenanigans occur, and eventually they call to me.  The jig is up, I am discovered, and I greet the exultant couple.  Much later, I treat myself to hot apple cider and a book--Schrödinger's Cake?