Sparkle Plenty

The beauty, complexity, and diversity of snow crystals are well known through technology. I have neither the equipment nor the patience, not even the desire to do more than appreciate the sparkle of a natural phenomena, but when a snowfall requires sweeping, shoveling or photographing I have to admit there is great satisfaction in knowing that technology developed by humans makes knowledge accessible about those snow crystals or anything else I want to learn. Hooray for the scientists, research papers, books, and libraries that store them.
This is poetry for snow flakes by Henry David Thoreau, 1856
"How full of the creative genius is the air in which these are generated!
I should hardly admire more if real stars fell
and lodged on my coat."
But knowing what stars are, poor Henry would hardly have been able to admire anything if a star fell on him. How astute for him to understand the air was responsible for the ice at all!
Naomi Sherer