First The Storm, Then The Promise, Then The Reward

The storm clouds roll....

'Til The Storm Passes By
In the dark of the midnight have I oft hid my face,
While the storm howls above me, and there's no hiding place.
'Mid the crash of the thunder, Precious Lord, hear my cry,
Keep me safe till the storm passes by.

Till the storm passes over, till the thunder sounds no more,
Till the clouds roll forever from the sky;
Hold me fast, let me stand in the hollow of Thy hand,
Keep me safe till the storm passes by.

~ Mosie Lister, 1958

Then the promise......

"Mild arch of promise! on the evening sky
Thou shinest fair with many a lovely ray,
Each in the other melting."
~ Robert Southey

Then the reward......

"The sunrise is Gods greeting - the sunset, his signature." ~ Unknown

Storms have blossomed each afternoon all week. They appear almost out of nowhere, with wind, flashes of lightening, and booming thunder before the downpours. An inch one day, a tenth the next... nine tenths the next. Slow moving, flash flooding, and still the humidity does not break. A cold front stretches, lazily languishes across the area... asleep. And the storms keep developing. I don't have to water the grass, but the cats hide each day, afraid of the sounds of pounding rain and rolling thunder. Still, after the clouds move on to the ocean... a promise appears in the eastern sky.... a rainbow. Then later, with clouds and storms to the north and south, the setting sun delivers a magnificent masterpiece to the end of the day.

This was July 6th, 2011.

(end of post)
Nature's Notes
Skywatch Friday

Let's Play I Spy

It's daylily time.

"On the face of it, the easiest of all activities should be seeing what we see. In reality, it's the hardest." ~ Charles Movalli

Have you every played "I Spy" or maybe "Where's Waldo?" I thought we would enjoy a little game today; but first I must digress to another story that has nothing to do with either "I Spy" or "Where's Waldo?" (or maybe it does).

Most of you know I have cats and some of you probably believe I have an excessive number of cats for a "normal" person. However, I have never claimed to be "normal" and my number of cats is dwindling from the unavoidable attrition that comes with increasing age. (I am now only living with four cats.) Once upon a time (every good story begins with this) I lived with another group of cats, all Siamese. Shamroc was the eldest and a seal point, Cassiopeia (Cassi for short), another seal point, and Rami, a blue point. They traveled with us everywhere for many years and it was on one of those excursions to Wichita Falls, that this story takes place.

My ex-mother-in-law (she wasn't and "ex" at that time; but you figured that out didn't you) had just re-done her bedroom with paint and curtains and a new king sized bed and bed linens. She longed for a picture of her new room to show her friends. Some of you, perhaps most of you, no longer remember the days of the Polaroid instant cameras (except for those tiny funky shot things my daughter had as a teenager that made weird instant picture stickers), but this was what I had. This was a time before I could afford a film 35mm camera, so you must be able to imagine what the style was back then... in the late '70's and early 80's. OK, please try not to gag too loud.

Anyway, as a dutiful daughter-in-law I obliged and stood in the dormer window facing the bed and snapped away. As the pictures lay on the bed and the foggy images slowly started to take shape, there was a curious blob centered at the botom of the picture. Milky and murky at first, it began to take shape; something dark and mysterious and at the same time stately and royal. Finally, the bedspread came into focus, as did the headboard and curtains and night stand and the rug... and the blob. IT WAS SHAMROC! I didn't see him through the viewfinder; but he positioned himself at the foot of the bed right in the dead center bottom of the picture, almost as if he were sitting on the edge of the white picture margin frame. AND he was turned just slightly sidways to show off the sloping curve of his back; his paws were placed together and his tail curled around and tucked in just in front of his paws. His head was trained directly on the camera with blue eyes front and center. HE POSED! Shamroc posed for the camera and gave a perfect shot, though no one knew he was there. Then, he WAS a special cat.

So, what does the previous story have to do with a lovely garden scene and gorgeous daylilies and a birdbath that is definitely leaking? Can you not guess? I took this picture from our living room window. It has been sooooo hot and humid that stepping outside into the wet sauna is more than I can take. So I take pictures from my little bench next to the window; pictures of the birds, hummers, and the occasional pastoral scene that invites the feeling of coolness at least. My brother gave me a long lens and I use it for this purpose. So I am at least fifteen to 20 feet away from these shots. As I worked with the pictures on my computer, something caught my eye... similar to the way that black blob showed up in my picture. Now, can you guess... is there anything showing up to you?

Scroll on down and get a closer shot.

I've patched cracks in this birdbath but it still leaks, just not as fast.

"The question is not what you look at, but what you see." ~ Thoreau

Do you see it now? After the first batch appeared and vanished at the end of April, just as they did last year, I have been looking and watching for more...to no avail. But here, it appears in my picture and I wasn't even looking.... have you figured it out yet? OK... a real cropped out close up is below.

A bit fuzzy but a monarch none the less.

"You can observe a lot by just watching." ~ Yogi Berra

Yes. A Monarch caterpillar of full size and it looks as if it has already entered into the wandering phase; as they rarely leave the milkweed until it is time. Of course I looked for him this morning, but alas, he has meandered away and hopefully has found a safe place to rest and form his chrysalis. I checked the milkweed again and still don't seen any eggs or small caterpillars. I guess it is time to break out the incubators and get them set up for the Monarchs and the Black Swallowtails.

So how did you do? Did you find him without my help? Did the story give some hints? Or did you have to scroll to the last picture.. come on.. tell the truth now!

(end of post)
Nature's Notes (a day late)

When The Bough Breaks

We had wind... (click pictures to enlarge)

"But on the twenty-fifth of May, at sunset, a violent wind howled madly,
Battering and rending my plants;
Rain poured down, Pounding the vines and flowers into the earth.
It was so painful
But as the work of the wind, I have to let it be ..."
~ Ryokan (1758 - 1831)

Except for the fact that it was the 24th of May and we actually had no rain... this describes our weather yesterday pretty well. It looks like our yo-yo season has passed and summer is here to stay, even if it is still officially a month away. Two weeks ago we had days in the upper 60's and mid-70's... nice, low humidity, great weather for working outside. This week? We hit 90 for the first time and yesterday it was up to 93 degrees and 80% humidity for a while. In the late afternoon while the tornadoes were gearing up in Oklahoma, a cell developed over western Virginia and sped off to the east... our direction. I came down to let Miss Daisy do some business outside before the rain hit and suddenly the skies darkened and the wind whipped up...no, it didn't "whip" up... it hit like a sledge hammer. The hot tub lid started to levitate so I ran out and grabbed the handle with my left hand and grabbed the only thing tied down with my right... the short garden hose attached to the faucet. I tied the lid down as best I could, but a lot of debris had already gotten in.

Inside the sunroom, I heard pelting pinecones on the copper roof and another thud and started seeing several plastic objects sliding across the deck and the yard. Then broken limb pieces and leaves and what looked to be flying logs at times. The grow box with my lovely little midget tomatoes was blown off the deck and turned over down the stairs. Little lost tomatoes spread across the patio and multiple tomato branches were broken off. I managed to get it back up near the sunroom and out of the main wind... but I saw the huge dead tree top broken off into the yard.

Little lost tomatoes.

It didn't hit anything but really made a mess....that I have to clean up. Two limbs fell behind the fence and I already tossed them back into the preserve. The strangest thing of all was.... while other areas around us were getting torrential downpours at the rate of 3 inches an hour... we got nothing...NOTHING! At most a few sprinkles... but not even enough to wet the sidewalk or deck or patio or even the roof. Just the wind. Now is that fair? If it makes this mess for me to clean up, it should at least water the yard and plants for me.

After the lightening quit, I started the clean up. I salvaged the grow box, put the roller back on, swept up the lost soil and pressed it all back together. I tied up the plants and set it back in place. Limbs and twigs are all over the back yard and I am going to start on that in a bit. The huge tree top is dead wood, not that heavy and I think should be easy picking for the hand saw, although I e-mailed the yard guy and he said he would take care of it. He had the top of a live old oak tree snap off into his property as well.

I noticed a strange splatter pattern on the patio and up the side of one of our planters that stretched from the middle of the rose garden to the edge of the patio... about 12 feet. It was a red sticky material and since pathology is my life work and since I have watched way to many CSI episodes, my first thought was that this was from an unfortunate bird...yes, blood splatter patterns! But, no bird. What is it? Sweet. Ah, ha! The wind was so strong that it blew the nectar out of the hummingbird feeder and sent it flying all across the patio. Don't ask how I know... I won't admit it.

Anyway, another band went through late last night and when the wind kicked up, I thought, "Oh, no. Not again!" So I tied down the hot tub lid and moved the tomatoes and a couple of other pots and then the wind died down. "Right! Now that I prepared, it's not bad." But... it DID rain!

(end of post)

Stuck

Not a bright squirrel.....

I couldn't believe this squirrel was so stupid and smart at the same time. Smart enough to get into the cage around the bird food and stupid enough to forget how he did it and get stuck. I still don't know how he got in... how do squirrels do anything.... but he definitely couldn't get out. I had to pull the spring pin that was holding the lid down and do it really quick. Really now, I don't have a hankering to be bitten by one of these things. That was no small feat as it is a really tight spring. By the time I found him here, he was already in a squirrely state (pardon the pun), panicked and frantically chewing on the metal wire. It took several tries but finally the spring came loose and he popped out of the top and off to the woods. If only that experience were imprinted on his pea sized brain... no such luck. We move the patio chairs further and further away from the bird feeder and he jumps further and further to get to the feeder.... soon we will have to catch him and sell him to a traveling squirrel circus, along with his five other cohorts.

(end of post)
Shutterday

Look Who Already Showed Up On My Milkweed!!!

Twenty caterpillars, already!!!

"There is nothing in a caterpillar that tells you it's going to be a butterfly." ~ Richard Buckminster Fuller

My brother is here... it is a busy and too short time of being together, laughing, working, planting... and yes, buying another Japanese maple tree. Just before he arrived I was looking over the flower beds marveling that just weeks before, except for the parsley and fennel and the evergreens, these beds were simply mulch where plants once grew. And then, remarkably, they began to return.. slowly at first but then almost changing each day. A few will not return and I don't know why... a few, I am still holding out hope for. The milkweed are slow to emerge and then grow more rapidly. I was watching them inch up towards the sky, each day a little more. Then I saw some leaves with holes and ragged edges and I thought... "My, these look really ratty... and still they are so short." A closer look showed why... and when I checked all the milkweed it was the same.... little one-half inch long green, yellow, black and white striped caterpillars. I haven't seen any returning Monarch butterflies, but they have slipped in and laid the eggs and so the cycle of life begins.

By the way, of the six black swallowtail chrysalides that overwintered in the sunroom... one emerged on a cold and rainy day, a little too early.... another emerged on time, dried and flew off. Four have not changed, but still a couple of weeks remain in their time frame. I haven't seen these butterflies around either, but I see that the fennel already has a lot of tiny eggs on it. This year I have planted more fennel behind our fence, near the preserve. I want to have a yard that is awash and a flutter with butterflies so thick you can hardly take a step without seeing one. Sigh. Perhaps.

(end of post)

Nature's Notes

Spring Fireglow

Early Spring.. emerging embers.

"Tree, gather up my thoughts
like the clouds in your branches.
Draw up my soul
like the waters in your root.

In the arteries of your trunk
bring me together.
Through your leaves
breathe out the sky."
~ J. Daniel Beaudry, Breath

"Fireglow", if ever an appropriate name for a tree... this is. It is probably ten years old with three trunks and survived the move and planting last summer's end. At the nursery and when first planted, the leaves were only tinged with red, mostly green. I babied it, this tree that is my brother's pride and joy... watering carefully... not too little and not too much. How many phone calls to the master gardener at the nursery to see if all things being done were all right.... what about this tiny cut in one of the trunks... does it need anything....when to fertilize... when to cut back on watering... do I prune back those scraggly limbs that lost their leaves in transit? Then fall arrived and with it the flaming red of the leaves... but it was dry and there had been so much heat and stress and still it was hot and the leaves seemed small and curled on edge... will it survive? This tree held on to its leaves well into November, far later than all the other standard maples in the yard. It took in the snow and the winds of winter and I thought it would be late leafing....it was, or at least I thought it was. The standard maple put out its buds and little flowers a full month before any buds were seen on the "Fireglow". But then the standard maple had to form its seeds and these hung around forever... in the meantime, Miss "Fireglow" quietly budded with tiny small red flowers and equally small red seed flyers and then tiny perfectly folded and shaped red leaves began to emerge in quick succession... bypassing the standard maple and.....

April sun....flourishing fiery glow!

....bursting forth in the most deep, garnet red collection of leaves I have ever seen. The leaves larger this year, not shriveled or green... and when the sun shines through the canopy it takes your breath away.... "Fireglow"

(end of post)
Ruby Tuesday

When Is A Tree Not A Tree?

When it is nature's arcade with free air conditioning!

"Making the simple complex is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity." ~ Charles Mingus

During horrific storms a year ago, several of the old stately pines at the Norfolk Botanical Garden were damaged, a couple broken off... the staff was devastated as these had been here since the garden was first formed. Loblolly pines are the favorite nesting sites of the Bald Eagle mating pair that inhabits the garden. What to do? Recycle... refurbish... reuse... make something magical out of misery. And so they did. You remember the Enchanted Forest series of playhouses that were on display last summer? To go with them, the garden decided to fill the now empty space where the trees were lost, with an outdoor arcade of sort.. the old fashioned kind where grandpas and kids could sit and play checkers as grandpa told stories of his childhood. The large trunks were carved into the table with checkerboard. Other trunks were fashioned into chairs and still others were cut and sanded into the checkers. So the lost trees were not really lost at all.. in fact, their new lives only added to the "enchantment" of the Enchanted Forest.

Does this funny fellow remind anyone else of an Ent?

"Us sing and dance, make faces and give flower bouquets, trying to be loved. You ever notice that trees do everything to git attention we do, except walk?" ~ Alice Walker, The Color Purple, 1982

Lovely people who have been long time friends of my parents live on a section of the bay with boat dock and large rocks at the shore. It is an older section of the area with large shade trees and gorgeous yards. The woman is an avid gardener and has wonderful little treasures hidden all over the place. Nyssa's favorite place was the hammock... shade and the cool breezes off the water. These looked like a variety of holly tree.. some can get quite large. I don't know if they were damaged and she simply couldn't bear to cut them down or if they had been trained and pruned specifically for this purpose, but this fellow can't help but catch your eye. Whimsical, humorous... who could help chuckling as he sticks his tongue out at passersby. But wait... trees with tongues??? Or lips or eyes for that matter.....hmm....

"Of all the wonders of nature, a tree in summer is perhaps the most remarkable; with the possible exception of a moose singing "Embraceable You" in spats." ~ Woody Allen

I remember now... an Ent... the ancient talking trees in Tolkien's trilogy, The Lord of the Rings. However, I really don't remember them ever looking this happy or mischievous, do you?

(end of post)
Carmi's Theme ~ Trees

Trees of the Season

Spring, daffodils bloom but the trees must wait....

"I never saw a discontented tree. They grip the ground as though they liked it, and though fast rooted they travel about as far as we do. They go wandering forth in all directions with every wind, going and coming like ourselves, traveling with us around the sun two million miles a day, and through space heaven knows how fast and far!" ~ John Muir

There is an order to the season... Spring really doesn't "spring" all at once. Each tree, each flower has its time of glory before its Creator. Crocus at the end of winter, then daffodil and weeping willow, the pink helicopter seeds of standard maple and the pale green new leaves of the birch... one after the other. Some with seeds arriving in tow with leaves, some with seeds that have to wait for fall. The last to leaf... usually the oak and crepe myrtle; the oak first pushing off brown dry dead leaves hoarded over winter to let the new green growth out and the crepe myrtle sprouting new growth below dead limb tips that should have been pruned in February. Each having a moment of splendor before shades of green deepen and blend with others in the the woods and forests and swamps.

Ornamental pear, flowers before leaves.. first in line for Spring.

"The wonder is that we can see these trees and not wonder more." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ornamental pear and plum have their finest moment with millions and billions of tiny white flowers that draw the season's first bees and shower the ground around their base with Spring snow.

Showy and loud, stately and proud, the rows of pear line boulevards and medians bring thoughts of white carriages and horses and fair tale princesses in pale blue sparkling dresses, rather than the reality of people in cars on their way to places unknown. Emerson was right.. how can we see the trees and not wonder more?

(end of post)
Carmi's Theme ~ trees
Mellow Yellow Monday

The Last Remnants of Winter

Forgotten nest in a naked tree.. the last remnants of winter.

"To find the universal elements enough; to find the air and the water exhilarating; to be refreshed by a morning walk or an evening saunter; to be thrilled by the stars at night; to be elated over a bird's nest or a wildflower in spring - these are some of the rewards of the simple life." ~ John Burroughs

It looks like the last freeze of winter is past... or perhaps I am going out on a limb here to say that. Still we have the yo-yo up and down temperatures between 45 and 80 right now; but the night time temperatures are slowly and steadily creeping up... 39..41...45..48...50..52. The trees are flowering or leafing and the fennel and yarrow are growing. The roses on the east side of the house are leafing out while those on the west and south sides are still canes. I see the small tiny curled fronds of the ferns starting to lift the overlying mulch just a bit and the hydrangea that I thought was horribly mutilated by the freezing cold weather this year is beginning to fill in with leaves. Daffodils are in full bloom, but alas, as yet I haven't seen one of the tulips emerge. I fear I planted too late again. Even the liriope is pushing up out of the ground and will flourish although, of all the plants in the front flowerbed, I dislike the liriope most.

In fact, the oaks and other hardwood trees along with the milkweed and lantana appear to be the late comers and still with bare branches. This long abandoned nest is tucked high in a tree behind the house. This tree is hanging on by a thread, much of the top has died and already broken off in the winds of two years ago. Its lower branches have bravely leafed out each spring and have tried to be robust enough to provide shelter for this nest. All in all, pretty successful, as it was very difficult to even see this nest.. or the birds that lived there last spring. Some day soon I expect to see it fallen to the ground.. perhaps a new nest built. That is a shame. It was a strong nest for a fledgling family and weathered the summer tropical storm winds and the winter nor'easters without becoming dislodged. So, this is its final act... a last remnant of winter for all to admire.

Watch...we will probably have a snow storm for Easter this year... just to prove me wrong!

(end of post)
Nature's Notes

There's Snow Valentine, Like My Valentine

"The heart must have its time of snow . . . to rest in silence, and then to grow." ~ unknown

Even snowmen have hearts....and need a little Valentine before they melt away.

i carry your heart with me
i carry your heart with me (i carry it in
my heart) i am never without it (anywhere
i go you go, my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing, my darling)
i fear
no fate (for you are my fate, my sweet) i want
no world (for beautiful you are my world, my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart)
~ e.e. cummings (American poet 1894-1962)

A funny little snowman wrapped in a warm red muffler, with button eyes and mouth and a long orange carrot nose and green pipe. On his coat we see a row of coal buttons. And there on his chest... a heart... a red heart.. ready for Valentine's Day.

My Valentine is my daughter Nyssa... and the poem is for her... for I truly carry her heart... I carry it in my heart... ALWAYS!

(end of post)

Singularly Mysterious After All These Years

I see the moon, the moon sees me.......

"There is something haunting in the light of the moon; it has all the dispassionateness of a disembodied soul, and something of its inconceivable mystery." ~ Joseph Conrad, Lord Jim

Would the moon be as mysterious if we had more than one orbiting around the earth? Spectacular moonrises every night, to be sure, but what would the tides do? Would they both be "silvery" or would one be red or amber? Would the two moons be in different orbits or at different stages at different times of the month? Surely, the physics of the whole thing would be vastly different. And that singular thing about the moon that is most precious.... the fact that I can see its face on one side of the continent and know that my lovely daughter can see the same moon, at the same time on the other side of the continent...well, that would probably be lost or more difficult to be sure of with two moons in the night sky. For me, the reflected light of that singular silvery moon embodies more than enough mystery for a lifetime......I say we keep it, as is...

"I see the moon
The moon sees me
Down through the leaves of the old oak tree
Please let the light that shines on me
Shine on the one I love.

Over the mountains
Over the sea
Back where my heart is longing to be
Please let the light that shines on me
Shine on the one I love."
~ Unknown

(end of post)
Carmi's Theme ~ Singles

ABC Wednesday: "A" Is For Autumn

Flying south in autumn's golden light. (Click picture to enlarge)

"Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns." ~ George Eliot

"A" is for Autumn now past and that particular glow of light in the afternoon. It is a light not seen in any other season of the year; warm, glowing and yet, with just a hint of frost and the coming cold. Winter light is more often than not a harsh gray and even when the sun shines brightly in blue winter skies, it doesn't warm the soul. The trees are asleep; the flowers hibernate. In Spring, the light teases the earth and the soil and speaks to the bulbs and seeds below... whispering for them to wake up, wake up. Spring's light feels airy and green.. but pastel in character. The light of Summer is bold and hot and burning... it does not beckon to the plants and trees, it commands them to grow and demands that they stand up straight and bloom. The trees respond and work to form a dense thick canopy for us to hide beneath. Yes, the Summer light is almost too intense... too much heat. But the Autumn light is golden and bronze and amber and perfectly made for the backgrounds of orange, yellow, red and russet leaves of the trees. It reflects off the Canada geese in flight and they become glowing embers in the sky. So.. "A" is for Autumn... always awesome....absolutely alluring....almost perfect.

(end of post)

Snow Shadows

One cannot see the shadows without seeing the sunlight.

“Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.” ~ Abraham Lincoln (16th US President, 1809-1865)

All the snow at Christmas afforded beautiful shadows when the sun finally appeared. There is nothing more beautiful that smooth, clean, white snow with sun sparkling through the crystals. It hides the drab green, gray and brown of winter grass and gives a magical fairy land look to the landscape. Our Japanese maple tree finally shed its last leaf and now all that remains is the stark trunk and branches. And yet when the sun came out, they cast a beautiful shadow on the fresh snow; a shadow that would not be so intricate and delicate if the leaves were still present. Even in winter, nature's bones are gorgeous.

Sometimes the shadow of an object is taller and larger than the object itself. Everyone has seen the twisted tree casting a gnarled and frightening shadow on the wall of the scared little boy in his bed as the wind made it move back and forth like a giant monster. Yet in the light of day, the tree is really insignificant. Even men (and women) can sometimes be like this tree.

"When small men begin to cast big shadows, it means that the sun is about to set." ~ Lin Yutang

Something to think about isn't it?

(end of post)

Where Is My Weather Expert When I Need Her? Seattle, Of Course!

Sudden white out..... and I didn't catch it at its worst!

"The trouble with weather forecasting is that it's right too often for us to ignore it and wrong too often for us to rely on it." ~ Patrick Young

Saturday's weather forecast was for temperatures in the low 40's... mostly sunny... no chance of precipitation. It started out that way. The little birds flocked to the recently filled bird feeders and the four resident squirrels that were so small last year and ... well, so squirrelly acting.. have grown and filled out and are now more persistent in their attempts to get up to the feeders; not successful, but persistent. I was anemically trying to get the Christmas decorations down, but my energy was really not into it and I found myself at the computer working on pictures and trying to figure out how to learn Lightroom and Photoshop CS5 that I got for Christmas.

Suddenly... and it really seemed sudden.. the light in the room faded to a dark gray and it wasn't so much this change that made me turn to look out the window, but rather the sound... a howling, swirling wind that whistled around the copper roof and rattled the windows... the north winter winds that often herald a change in weather. This sound of sudden wind made me turn and what I saw was remarkable... a total white out!

A snow burst.. short-lived...

I ran.. OK, I didn't run.. I hobbled.. downstairs and grabbed the camera to shoot these pictures. It was really a white out and the blowing was unbelievable... white snow flakes blowing sideways, plastering up against the northwest sides of the trees and on the fences and sides of the cars. I turned on the weather channel, local on the 8's and expected to see current conditions listed as "snow".. but, instead... "partly sunny". PARTLY SUNNY!? Look out the window! No sun anywhere.

Fifteen minutes worth of snow....

This "burst" continued for fifteen to twenty minutes, leaving the grass covered and the streets wet. The temperature never did reach the low 40's and when the snow started it was 37℉ but quickly fell to 33℉. The skies began to lighten and the snow slowed after that, with flurries for another hour. The wind died down a bit, although it could never be called calm. Another less heavy burst of snow occurred a few hours later... still, no mention of any chance of snow in the forecast.

According to the weather forecast.. this never happened!

The sudden snow was never acknowledged and the sun did eventually come out and it melted off most areas, but pelleted ice was still present on the hot tub lid come Sunday morning and the temperatures have been colder than forecast all weekend.. This burst must have been an anomaly but had it continued for even another hour, we would have had an inch or so of snow. And where was my weather expert when I needed her to check her menagerie of weather charts to help forecast this snow? Clear across the country on her way to Seattle.

Now, this huge snow and ice storm is crossing over the southern states and is into North Carolina already. We have no winter weather advisories or warnings in place. There is a forecast for light wintery mix but no indication of accumulation. Perhaps it won't make it this far... they say our temperatures will be too high for snow.. but then, they said that Saturday too. I think I should go out and get a bit of salt for the driveway and a snow shovel, just to make sure... What can it hurt? I think I should call Nyssa and see what her crystal ball says.

(end of post)
Carmi's Theme ~ wet