The grass yesterday morning crunched beneath my feet. Like snow. It was…interesting.
It was also quite pretty, so naturally, I took some pictures. Today it’s in the forties, so the ground is turning soggy. Mud’s just not as pretty as frost.
(c) 2015. All rights reserved.
Since I’ve been moaning about the state of the snow round these parts, I figured a picture of it might be appropriate:
Believe it or not, this is the pretty snow. The ugly snow is completely black and fills the ditches along my commute. Yuck.
How’s winter treating you?
(c) 2015. All rights reserved.
Have I mentioned lately that I’m tired of winter? Cuz I totally am. We seem to be getting the short end of the winter stick this year – all the sub-freezing temps, but none of the pretty, pretty snow.
Now, of course, it feels like March outside because the temperatures have rebounded from somewhere in the -10°F range to the mid-30’s, and it’s glorious. But, as one of my awesome friends said yesterday, “I want it to be March in March.”
March it ain’t, at least not yet.
But in honor of the warmer temperatures, I thought I’d share a picture from a warmer time of year. Here’s me driving a tractor for the first time last summer. We lost some trees in one of the many storms that plagued our area last year, and Seymour and I spent a good portion of this particular afternoon cleaning one of them up. Driving a tractor was an interesting experience – I’ve driven riding lawn mowers many times, but it’s been ages since I did it last, and this is quite a bit bigger. Still, it was a good day.
I can’t wait for more good days on the farm this summer. What are you looking forward to this year?
(c) 2015. All rights reserved.
Winter, in all its monochrome glory, is now firmly entrenched in my backyard. Since my current view is something like the image to the left, I find myself longing for a bit of color.
What? There’s color in that there picture? Well of course there is! It’s just that it’s the color cast upon an ocean of snow by a setting sun, and it’s mostly blue. And white. And some sort of odd mixture of the two. It’s monochrome. And while it’s beautiful in its own way, it’s also boring.
I want color! Color that pops off the page, or better yet, color that pops out of the dreary winter landscape. I want color that makes my eyes sing and my heart soar, color that is so deep and rich and vibrant that it’s practically alive.
I’ve been trying to organize the scads of pictures that live on my computer and in so doing, I ran across these pretty, pretty pictures that I took last summer:
Yesterday Miss Tadpole decided to take the boys outside to play in the snow. Thumper was all excited to bundle up, head outside, and build a snowman.
That lasted all of about five minutes. Then the cold got to him and the screaming began. At least I got some nice cuddle time while he warmed up under a pile of blankets.
Cricket, on the other hand, didn’t start screaming till he was forced to come inside. He wasn’t ready to be done playing, but he wasn’t listening, either, so in he came.
This weekend has given us the warmest temps we’ve had in quite a while – mid-twenties above zero! – but there’s a breeze, and it’s knocked the wind chill down well below zero. Still, at least it’s better than the last week.
(c) 2015. All rights reserved.
Well, would you look at that – they’re wearing their coats!
It’s the middle of winter, so you wouldn’t think this would be so remarkable. But Monday night, Bubbles went to spend a week at his dad’s and left his coat at home. It was maybe 15°F the next day, so his stepmom drove him over to pick up his coat.
We were supposed to get a bunch of snow this weekend, but so far, we’ve only got a dusting. At any rate, Friday night his dad stopped to pick up his boots, because he hadn’t taken those with him, either. *sigh*
Apparently Bubbles is going to be one of those kids who wears shorts when it’s five below. Insisting his sweatshirt is good enough is only the beginning.
(c) 2015. All rights reserved.
It’s been gray and foggy and rainy here for a good week now, maybe even a little longer. I love the atmosphere fog brings with it – I find it very inspiring – but at this time of year, I also find it rather depressing. Winter is such a dreary time of year anyway, and the fog doesn’t help.
Hence today’s picture, a reminder of sunnier times:
I miss the sun.
We had so much snow for Thanksgiving that it felt like Christmas had arrived a month ahead of schedule. But it’s been so warm (relatively speaking) lately that what snow we had has all melted, and now it feels more like November than November ever did.
All of this makes it hard for me to believe that in just three short days, it’ll be Christmas. And seriously, they’ll be short days – tonight we celebrated Miss Tadpole’s birthday, and my in-laws were able to make it for the first time in a very long time, which made the evening extra special. Tomorrow night we’re having Christmas with my family, and I still have gifts to wrap for them, so I’m really glad I’ll have a little time to do that in the morning.
We’re celebrating with our kids on Christmas Eve, then doing stockings on Christmas morning, then another family Christmas on Sunday…
It’s a good thing I’m not back to work yet, because just thinking about all of that is making me tired. Er, more tired. I love the holidays, but I’m feeling so run-down this year that it’s hard to feel my usual Christmas spirit. Hopefully I’ll be back to my usual carol-singing self this time next year.
How has this Christmas differed from prior years for you? Is the change for better or for worse?
(c) 2014. All rights reserved.
It was a beautifully sunny day the other day, the kind that makes you feel glad to be alive. I couldn’t help taking a picture of it:
The snow is gone now, and so is the sun. It’s beginning to feel a lot like February, weather-wise, instead of nearly Christmas. I can do without the snow, but I dearly miss the sun.
(c) 2014. All rights reserved.
Over the summer, we had a potted impatien out in front of our office. It was a lovely thing, and when the temps turned colder, we brought it inside. But sitting just inside the door as it was proved detrimental to its health, and it withered.
One of my coworkers brought it inside and set it near the window in our coat room. She’s got a much greener thumb than I have, and decided to try nursing it back to health.
Last week, we noticed a bloom. A couple days later, there was another one. This morning, I counted four or five, and those are just on the side of the plant I can see – the side facing the window appears to have a few more blooms on it.
Now that we’ve got a bit of snow on the ground, it’s a treat to see something so bright and different amid the white.
(c) 2014. All rights reserved.
We had our first significant snowfall this weekend, and as a result, we didn’t go anywhere for most of the weekend (the lone exception being a trip to the store this morning for some milk). I was quite happy to stay inside because it was brutally cold outside (though it wasn’t a whole lot better inside), and yesterday the roads were quite slick.
Instead, we stayed inside and played with the newfangled Rock ‘Em, Sock ‘Em Robots that Bubbles got last year for Christmas. It was certainly an entertaining way to spend the afternoon, and the boys loved watching Bubbles and Miss Tadpole pop each other’s heads off. 🙂
How did you spend your weekend?
(c) 2014. All rights reserved.
Suddenly they all died. The end. 