There’s a special kind of quiet you only ever hear after snowfall. When the ground has been blanketed by a fresh layer of softly gleaming white, light as air where it rests, undisturbed, along every curve and dip in the landscape. Tufts of grass here and there break through, swaying like tiny banners. A family of sparrows observe the new world they’ve woken up to from their perches high up in a bare tree, chittering excitedly before taking flight as one bein...