… before the storm.
Photo by Pat G.
I know I’ve been moaning and groaning about the snow and how hard it is for the tiny hummingbirds and other little creatures who have to try to survive in the snow and cold.
But for those of you who can shut that dilemma out of your head, you may want to make the best of this snowy weather.
If you have access to a ski hill, you can do that (if you’re still young enough to take advantage of this vigorous pastime).
At the top of the chairlift, have a look around and enjoy the crisp air. Take in the vastness of the valley below. Do you feel small?
Forget about birds that want to land on a branch. They are gone from this frozen place, leaving it all to you.
Pure and clean! And now for an exhilarating ride to the bottom of the hill. Swish! … Don’t fall.
Photos by Pat Gerrie
British Columbia
The fir trees in the photo below are used to bending away from the prevailing southeast winds. The bay is loaded in whitecaps, a sure sign that only fools would go out there in a small boat. No fools visible today.
It blew so hard today that the firs in my backyard suffered in spite of being partly sheltered behind my house. When the rain let up somewhat, I went outside to take a picture of the branch that broke in the wind today. Apparently the rain hadn’t quite stopped, as you can see from the big drop that fell right in the middle of my camera lens. I was going to try to edit it out, but then I thought, “No, this is part of the picture. It was wet out there.”
If you look to the left of the tree closest to you, near the middle, you can see that a branch is near the ground, but still hanging on the tree. It is broken and hanging by a thread way up high. See the birdhouse on the tree? Go up about the same distance again as the birdhouse is from ground level and you will see the break.
Here is a close-up of the top of that broken branch.
I guess I could try swinging on the branch like Tarzan and it would come off, but if it broke mid-swing, that might not be too much fun.
Branches flying everywhere,
Look! A sliding patio chair,
Time to get some firewood,
Raining, so put up your hood,
Fir cones pelt the woodshed roof,
Put your hard hat on, you goof.
Quickly, fill that barrow now,
Gusts of wind are screaming – “Wow!”
Push the wood up to the house,
Knowing you’ve exposed a mouse,
Hiding by the firewood stack
She resettles farther back.
Birds are huddling in a shrub,
Dangerous to come out for grub.
Just get through this awful night,
Tomorrow things will be all right.
After the blizzards of the last few days, the sun came out for a few minutes, just long enough to bring the whole city out to the grocery stores and create desperate parking lot jostling and unprecedented lineups at the tills.
That all changed overnight when the wind switched direction and brought strong winds (littering our yard with branches large and small) and plenty of rain to help dissolve the snow.
Notice the larger branch that came down next to the woodshed and the smaller bits all over the rest of the ground.
I looked out at the water this morning. Our usually sheltered bay is a wee bit rough today, but … “Surf’s up!”
I’ll take a wet and windy day any time over the freezing snow blizzards we’ve had.
I’m becoming a skywatcher. Who would have thought mid-winter clouds could be so pink without a real sunrise? The cloud was a blanket over the hills. The cold snow under the blanket was turning blue.
What struck me was the contrast between the pink cloud and the cool blue snow.
The picture is not touched up. These are the weird colours of the morning sky. That’s why I ran for my camera.
The day turned stormy with a complete blanket of gray clouds scooting past only to be followed by more of the same. High southeast winds did nothing to blow the clouds away and reveal blue sky. Clouds just kept coming. I was surprised the winds were not from the north, so icy were they.
It was a weird day, weatherwise.
Winds SE 52 km (32 mph), gusts of 67 km (42 mph) later in the day.
No snow for Christmas. Just wind and rain.
While it looks pretty to have snow, it’s safer for driving if the precipitation is just water, not ice or snow.
So here we have the view today.
Blustery, gray, wet! When you see whitecaps on the water, you know it’s breezy.
Since it doesn’t look like Christmas, I decided that my baking didn’t have to be Christmassy either. Just plain comfort food is good today.
Apple pies await.
And the staff of life, bread, is almost ready to come out of the oven. Not Christmas bread; just bread.
(The pale part of the bread is from the light in the kitchen.)
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