Winter

Oh, no! Not more snow photos! Do forgive, as I've got nothing else. As I write this on December 21st, the winter solstice and first official day of winter, ironically there is no snow to be seen. But winter was here, it arrived a few weeks ago in the form of frozen precipitation on multiple occasions. It started out with a very pretty hard-frost that I wrote about here. From that point on it's been snow on ground, snow melt. Snow on ground, snow freeze. Snow melt, water freeze. Ice everywhere. Snow again, snow melt, hard frost, fog. In that order. I know, I know, so many of you have brutal 4'-of-snow-in-one-night-Buffalo-New York kinds of winters. We are wimps here. As a native Oregonian I can tell you that ongoing snow and ice is not the norm. The weather in these parts, she is a-changin'. 

So, the only logical thing to do around the garden when it snows is take pictures and feed the critters. That's about all I've done the past two weeks. Here is the fruit of my labors.

 It started out with brilliant "Wow Honey! Look outside!" kind of snow. This was sunrise on a very beautiful morning.

Mr. Happy and I took a frolic around the property to take it all in.

OK, the grasses look lovely dressed up (especially as they're basically dead for the season), and the blanket of white hides many weeds. So far so good.

 A forest-y wonderland on the northern corner of the property.

A decent few inches fell.

 

After a couple of snow showers, it eventually melted and froze over a few days in. 

While I appreciate the beauty of it, oy, to have trees around covered in brittle, heavy ice is to be a nervous wreck.

Pretty! I didn't get very far taking photos this day for it was a little too slippery.

No worries, give it a day or two to melt and let the snow come back. Mr. Happy at it again. It's early morning so the sky is still a bit dark.

A rather amazing discovery these past couple of weeks is how many critters are out there. It's a virtual party on our property after dark. I thought there might be a mouse or two but there were tracks everywhere. And that would be one scary mouse.

Coming and going? Or a race?

Raccoon dancing after dark, me thinks.

These just end at the tree. Squirrel? Magical maple tree fairy?

Probably raccoon. Right? Tell me it's a raccoon.

La la la...pretty late autumnal wonderland.

At this point this was as far outside as I was willing to go. Open the deck door and stick my camera out there.

This photo is from the same day but the sun had come up and the lighting changed.

By 4:00 the sun was going down. Maybe this was the last of it.

Pretty sunset.

Nope, still around the next day.

But it was melting a little more.

At least the sun is out.

Aaah, nearly melted. Maybe we can get some chores done. Tired of snow photos yet? I am.

Then on Monday it snowed. Again. But that afternoon the regular Pacific Northwest banana belt rolled through and it turned to rain and melted most of the snow.

By this morning, there was no snow to be found. The fog rolled in, however, and stayed here all day. Note the ice crystals on the birdbath. Not exactly the warm front I was hoping for.

But, pretty. Today I am happy to report that besides the wicked fog, life is nearly back to normal. Perfect for a winter solstice, Pacific Northwest-style.

This is a snapshot of life here at Chickadee Gardens these past two weeks. Facilities Manager in front of the television watching Perry Mason with a newspaper in his hands. Snow outside, and, if I were pictured, you'd see me running from window to window to watch the birds and see if the snow had melted at all so I could go outside and get some chores done. Maybe 48 laps per day in the house. A little stir crazy. I think Facilities Manager has the right idea. FM watching PM? Nice.

With that, I wish you all a very happy winter solstice, a merry Christmas, a fab Kwanzaa, a festive Hanukkah, and of course, a zingy Festivus, snow or no snow.

Thank you for reading and until next time, stay cozy and warm! Happy gardening - I mean Perry Mason watching.