Call it an omen, call it what you will, but Wednesday on my way to work I saw [insert your favorite dramatic crescendo] ... snow buntings.

There I was, sitting in the left, westbound lane at Randall and Route 38, minding my own business – and contemplating that of others, namely, what circumstances may have led someone to let go of the plastic Meijer bag that was floating in the breeze – when the light turned green. I watched as the white bag sailed toward the Fifth Third Bank lot; then, hoping it soon would get picked up and disposed of properly, took my foot off the brake and proceeded through the intersection.

The next light, which serves the Route 38 entrance to Meijer and the St. Charles Moose Lodge, was green, so I gave the car a little gas. A flutter of white caught my eye, and just as I had begun to think, “Aw nuts, not another plastic bag,” a light bulb went off in my head: Snow buntings!