Old Man Winter

This picture is from this morning, 15 January 2012. Old Man Winter finally decided to drop in for a visit, and dropped snow, branches, trees, and my 25+ year-old lilac. We got about 6 inches of snow yesterday (by nightfall, that is). Hubby and the kids went out and played in it, but not before I got out there with my camera to take pictures of the pristine white landscape. Then I got my cold butt back inside and stayed. The kids and Hubby started building a fort, using a metal basin to form large "bricks," and got the walls about 4 feet high or so. The kids have worked on it more today (and I think Hubby did too, before he had to go to work). This snow would have made Christmas feel more. . . "Christmas-y," if it had arrived in time. Now I find it annoying, because I was getting ready to prepare a spring list of things that need done on the property. Instead, I'm worrying about how to keep us warm (we really need a truck!).

It's nice to have an easy 'excuse' to not go anywhere, and to just work on my projects here at home (I think I'm almost finished with making "wallchiers"). The view out of the windows is stunningly beautiful, though the skylights are covered with snow and thus it's a lot darker. Gorgeous, just gorgeous.

Today the kids and I went out (I lost my lilac yesterday) to knock the heavy and very wet snow off of the fruit trees and bushes, and the English laurels we planted this spring. Didn't want to lose any more than necessary. I was able to prop up/brace the remaining part of the lilac (a younger part of the formerly tall 'tree'), and I'll just have to hope it'll survive.

Now it's time to open presents. . . oh wait, we already did that at Christmas. I guess I'll just have to make dinner, hope the fire keeps going, and enjoy the quiet beauty of the whitened landscape. Thoughts of spring can be temporarily set aside, given the magnificent change in scene/season.

~Cedeham~