Between sights of snow piled high and green that greets the eye, a smush is often underfoot this time of year.

Two cousins spent between 40 and 50 hours constructing a huge snowman, partly to attract enough attention to raise money for researching a common blood cancer.

The snowstorm Tuesday brought just a few inches to the Hilltowns, but the school buses and beef cattle weathered its visit in the middle of the day.

The early snowfall this season has created outdoor scenes dusted with white and wrung more beauty from the throes of fall.

Snow was piled high and displaced in any way to clear for pedestrians and cars amid the dumping of winter weather in February.

The Capital Region felt the brunt of a large winter storm on Thursday and Friday that stirred the pity of the nation as many, sometimes dozens of inches of snow covered the already buried ground. Children and their parents donned ice skates and brought sleds to the Berne Town Park on Saturday, Feb. 15, where they played and more flakes fell throughout the morning. Just a few miles away, South Berne had been given 27 inches of snow from the storm by Friday, according to the National Weather Service in Albany.