Bayou "Snowshoes"?

  This far down in the Deep South, we rarely (if ever) get snow.  If by chance we do get a few flurries, things come to a screeching halt while we watch.  The Bayou hardly ever gets any significant snowfall and by significant, I mean more than a couple of inches.  To explain this, folks still talk about the "heavy snow we got back in '63 or was it '64?"  (It was '63..actually it was New Year's Eve!)  That heavy snowfall allowed us to make snowmen!  We got all of about 6 inches but it was thrilling for us.  So, with all of this "lack of snow", there is not a lot of reason to own a pair of snowshoes unless you head north for the winter.  Here, a good pair of shrimp boots will get you through just about any weather.  

  This morning as the sun was coming up above the pines on the far side of the Bayou, I spied something glimmering in the old oak tree.  I slipped down the hillside to see just what was sparkling so.  To my surprise, it was nothing more than a spiderweb but what a beauty!  The small web was strung between the Y shaped twigs of a low-lying branch and was dangling in the perfect spot to be illuminated by the rising sun.  Wow!  It was gorgeous!

  While I stood admiring the handiwork of the spider, it occurred to me that perhaps this looked like one of those crazy things called snowshoes.  Granted, I have never seen one other than in storybooks or movies but the shoe was always some sort of bentwood frame with fiber woven back and forth across the open area.  This was supposedly good for walking across deep snow.  That is something I will  never know but, at least, I have an idea of the workings of the things.  (I often wonder if there is some sort of magical shoe that will allow me to walk across that Bayou mud to get to the other side without sinking up to my ears!)  Anyway, my spiderweb seemed like it might make a pretty design for a snowshoe!  Maybe?  I really have no idea....just dreaming here!