Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Earth Stood Hard as Iron






In the bleak midwinter,
frosty wind made moan;
earth stood hard as iron,
water like a stone
.

It has been a very snowy winter so far, and COLD. I have been meaning to take pictures of the snow in our yard. I just keep forgetting, or thinking of it like now, when it's late and too dark outside. So I'm showing you these pics which my sister-in-law took at their farm in southern Minnesota. They've had even more snow than we have! One thing I love about Minnesota... it's not a bleak midwinter! We get these beautiful, sunny days in the winter time! I've read other bloggers complaining about the weeks of cloudy days. I love that we don't usually have that problem here. The sunshine saves my sanity!

Our mailbox is almost buried. The snow is so deep that the city came by and scraped off the top couple of feet of snow so that we can hope to see the traffic. When it gets to be too high, it causes hazardous driving conditions (can't see cars coming because of tall snow piles).

Every time the city does a follow-up cleaning job, more snow falls or gets dumped near our mailbox or driveway, so we have to do more clean-up. The good news is, with his new shovel, Charles has been keeping our driveway cleaner than it has been for years! It looks great.

I'm writing about the snow today, because a couple of young ladies are on my mind: (1) a certain Liz Lady is visiting from California and is a little bit in shock about the wintery state she's visiting; and (2) a friend has an exchange student from India living at her house. What on earth does SHE think about this frozen tundra??

Actually, it is starting to warm up. It's inching up into the 30's F and is expected to get above freezing this weekend. WhooHoo! A heat wave!! Minnesotans will be dancing in the streets!

10 comments:

Jo said...

Carol, you know what? As I was walking home through Kitsilano the other day, I saw a rose blooming, right here in Vancouver. A beautiful peach colored rose...! And next month we are hosting the winter Olympics. Goodness!

AnnieO said...

My experience with snow has been limited to a few ski trips and seeing it on local mountaintops maybe once a season, so this kind of picture just stops me in my tracks thinking how you get out and about in it! Glad your hubby's new shovel is a technological marvel. Enjoy your heat wave!

Clare said...

I'll stop whinging about how cold it is here. Our 5 cms pales into insignificance!

Unknown said...

I've been reading about the weather on so many blogs this new year. We in Canada of course always talk of the weather!
If it gets above 40...it's almost sandals time for those of us that are tough!

Melissa Kaye said...

We're loving the snow here too! The kids help Jake shovel the sidewalk every time it snows. Last time they went out to do some "clean up" work, Jake had to shovel a path in the yard because the snow was too deep for the girls to walk through. It cracks me up to see.

Elaine Adair said...

OH my - don't you feel housebound? That's a bunch of snow!

Anonymous said...

I am intrigued my Charles' new shovel. It's a measure of how much snow we really have to deal with here when there are so many optionf for its removal, eh? I am the proud owned of a roof rake. In ten years of owning ,y townhome, I have never needed one - til this year!!! But I'm with you about the sunny days being cheery.

Sharon said...

Beautiful snow pictures! That's what I loved about winter in Michigan when I was growing up. Once the snow stopped coming down, the sun would come out for days and everything was so beautiful. It IS a pain to deal with, but being in a cozy house looking out, it was beautiful! Thanks for sharing!

BrendaLou said...

beautiful pictures. Lady "Liz" is going home to N. CA tomorrow. she thinks you are all crazy for living in winter weather...I suppose I do also to a point...I seem to come for a long time each winter! I fly into MSP Feb. 3. Hope to see you (and your quilt show!) while I am there.

Liz Scott Adams said...

I looked out the window at one point today and thought, "Oh! Snow!" And then I remembered that there is always snow here! I am excited to go home to CA tomorrow where 50 will feel hot. But it has been beautiful visiting here. I will return in May!