Strange drifts on the back deck and postcard winter scenes... after the winds died down.
(Click pictures to enlarge)"A snowflake is one of God's most fragile creations, but look what they can do when they stick together!" ~ Author Unknown
Just a few more pictures of the remarkable snowfall on Christmas Day night and the 26th; these are mainly for my brother who had to spend Christmas in Tokyo. He's been here when it is really hot and when heavy thunderstorms produce circulations and trees that snap off and he has been here when it seems to rain every day and when it is dryer than the desert in July; but, he has never been here when the soft and quiet snow is falling on the steaming hot tub, or when the north winds are howling outside his window with heavy blowing flakes drift strange shapes in the snow on the ground below or when we find it easier to simply stay inside by the fire than to dig out the vans. We had two of these storms in 2010... a very unusual happening indeed.
Virginia is an unusual state.. not quite north, not quite deep south. I remember spending Christmas in Roanoke with my grandparents and many times the Shenandoah Valley sported temperatures in the 60's on Christmas Day, but it was just as likely to be cold with 15 inches of snow on the ground. Roanoke is in a valley in the Blue Ridge Mountains, it is supposed to be colder there. Here in Hampton Roads, Virginia Beach and Chesapeake where we live, this is not the case. The average temperatures in November and December are in the 50's and January is usually the coldest month with the highest chance of snow. The Gulf Stream flows just off shore and keeps the air just a bit too warm for snow most of the time. We do get snow.. at least a little each year and most often this is one or two inches at most... four or five inches is a lot. 2010 was a different year. January brought several small dustings and then a 10 inch blast... not much wind, few drifts, but a heavy snow that stopped almost everything. Then we had an inch on December 4th, a dusting on December 13th and another three inches on December 16th. Then the big one on the 25th and 26th.
Below are pictures that Nyssa took out the van window while I was grasping the steering wheel with white knuckles and going 25 mph. Our neighborhood roads were simply packed snow and ice... I do believe we must have had a short burst of ice between the snow layers at least some time during the storm. The road on the left is Hwy 17 or Dominion Blvd and is one of the main routes from Virginia to Elizabeth City, North Carolina. It was horrid, with ruts that made you slip and slide and all the turn lanes were covered with inches and inches of snow, slush and ice. The pines had a hard time... lots of broken branches... but the other deciduous trees seemed to weather the storm fine. Now all that is left is a gray pile of shoveled snow mounds here and there along with the inevitable mushy ground. We had two days of normal temperatures in the 50's and low 60's and now it is back down into the 30's and 40's.
On the way to the airport... roads were in really bad shape. 
But it is dry and sunny and the squirrels are being their obnoxious selves, raiding the bird feed ball and twisting themselves into contorted shapes to try and get sunflower seeds from the "squirrel proof" feeder. I decided to buy a snow shovel, but Walmart is sold out, so I will have to go off to Home Depot or Lowes. Yes, I should have bought the shovel BEFORE the snow storm; but, if I go ahead and get one now, probably... or at least possibly, it will be enough to keep any more snow storms from coming our way in 2011. A positive preventative purchase, perhaps.
At least on the Christmas tree."New Year's eve is like every other night; there is no pause in the march of the universe, no breathless moment of silence among created things that the passage of another twelve months may be noted; and yet no man has quite the same thoughts this evening that come with the coming of darkness on other nights. ~ Hamilton Wright Mabie
So, here it is... New Year's Eve, with snow still on the ground and the very first day of 50 degree temperatures in a month just ending. New Year's Day promises to be balmy with temperatures in the 60's and rain, to rinse more of the snow away... thus beheading the already sad looking snowmen. It is the last post for 2010 and time keeps on going.
Just a month ago, the Christmas spirit was in full force with excitement to drag out all the storage boxes of decorations and lights and garland. Now it is time to reverse the process and return the house to its usual state. Is it only me, but don't the rooms look empty without the nativity, the holly and ivy, the trees and lights and candles and pillows and throws? Doesn't it take several weeks to get used to the "normality" again?
New Year's has become more of a let down over the years. We used to get up at the crack of dawn to watch the Rose Parade and then it was channel surfing between the bowl games... Cotton, Orange, Rose, and Sugar. Now they go on for weeks... only one per day and with the strangest titles... Poinsettia Bowl, New Mexico Bowl, Little Caesars Bowl, Humanitarian Bowl, Insight Bowl, Pinstripe Bowl, Compass Bowl, and GoDaddy Bowl, just to name a fraction of them. Where did all these come from? More importantly... WHY?
Who can resist a rotund, but truly angelic kitty ornament?
So, this is it... another year ended, time to take stock or better yet, just keep moving.. one foot in front of the other. I always hope this year will be better than the last and in some ways they are... in others.. not so much. But it will be here in another two hours anyway.. no matter what we want. Mom still finds the ball drop in Times Square to be fun to watch so she will stay up. She still loves to stay up and watch election returns with a big bowl of popcorn too. I've decided to revert to the days when my daughter was little and I worked hard at the lab. My supreme joy was to be at home with her fed and doing homework and me in my comfy nightgown and robe and fuzzy slippers.... by 6PM. So, it will be off to bed.. perhaps with a book and definitely with the dog (Daisy is already asleep for her pre-bedtime nap). I have no interest in the glass electric ball or the millions of pounds of confetti that will really muck up the snow mounds already in New York or the inevitable firecrackers that will go off at the stroke of midnight... For me, these days... tomorrow is just another day.
I suppose I should say a word or two about the cats pictured here, since nothing so far has anything to do with cats. This Christmas, when I lovingly took out all the ornaments and remembered where I got them and how Nyssa picked some and we hung them on the tree each year and as I was doing this BY MYSELF without her here... well, I suddenly realized that we have an extraordinarily large number of "cat", "dog" and other "animal" ornaments. Almost ALL the penguin ornaments are my brother's, but the cat and dog items are ours. It is staggering... we have enough to make a "cat and dog" themed tree full of ornaments. I didn't intend to ever have this many... didn't plan to acquire such a large number.. but it has happened. So, there you have it... pictured are just a few of our Cats on Christmas (tree) selections. Tomorrow begins the dismantling and the sorting and the packing away... so one last look.
Happy New Year....
(end of post)
What a difference twelve hours makes! (Click pictures to enlarge)"The cold was our pride, the snow was our beauty. It fell and fell, lacing day and night together in a milky haze, making everything quieter as it fell, so that winter seemed to partake of religion in a way no other season did, hushed, solemn." ~ Patricia Hampl
Nyssa wanted a white Christmas, something we never had in Mississippi and something we did have in Oklahoma, but she was too young to remember. So, being the meteorologist student.. she studied the charts and the storm in the west that was slowly moving across the country. She waited while they predicted lots of snow and then backed off and announced that the low would swing out further into the Atlantic and that we would only get a couple of inches; only to backtrack and predict a few inches more... perhaps 4 to 6 inches. Still, she thought there would be more... and as the weather service declared a Winter Weather Advisory and then a Winter Storm Warning, she kept saying that we might get a whole lot more snow than they thought. It began on Christmas night... by bedtime we had what would have been a major snow storm in Mississippi... three inches. Overnight, it ramped on up and began snowing harder with wind as well.
In a winter wonderland... where did the street disappear to?
Next morning there were periods of white out and the snow continued to accumulate. By noon, nine inches was on the ground and the snow continued. The weather service kept inching the predicted amount on up until we were in the 10" - 12" range and with an attached "hedge"... "some areas may experience heavy bursts of snow and therefore higher snow totals." It snowed all day, tapered off towards evening but still flakes flew well into the night. In total we had a bit over 12 inches and places in Norfolk had up to 14 inches. Yes, it was not the 24 inches in New England, but for coastal Virginia....well, it was and still is something.
One of the near white out bursts of snow. There is a golf course just beyond those trees.
Nyssa had to leave on Monday, the 27th and all the Southwest Airline flights on the 26th were cancelled as well as the first three on the 27th. Her flight was still on the books, so we had to get to the airport. There is no scraping or sanding in the neighborhoods, so the streets were simply packed down snow and ice. The expressways were cleared, at least one lane each way but the on and off ramps were horrible. Normally, the drive takes 25 minutes. On Monday, it took over an hour and a half to get there. I stayed in the terminal after she went on down through security to her gate, just to make sure the incoming plane from Chicago actually landed. It did, she boarded and made it off the ground and all the way to Chicago... almost before I got back to the house.
Even the birds had to deal with the snow.
The cold and snow seems to be hard on Daisy's heart. She has coughed more and had a fainting episode after being outside. Walking through snow that is almost chin high is hard... poor old girl. Even the little birds had to brave the wind and pelting snow... I bet this young bluebird wishes now he had flown south for the winter.
The snow is now slowly melting, though it seems that our yard is not situated to where sun shines on the driveway and back porch enough to melt and dry the area. This melting and re-freezing has brought large swaths of black ice on the roads and today was the first day the mailman could get to our box. Still, by Friday we are supposed to finally get close to the 50's... balmy weather to be sure.
(end of post)
The quiet Christmas snow.. before the raging storm. Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
~ Robert Frost
A snowy evening turned into an even more snowy day and continued into another snowy evening. A white Christmas was wished for... but, be careful of your wishes...for the snow did not stop here, while only three inches deep. Christmas Day was gloomy and cloudy and cold with the feeling and look of snow in the skies... but no flakes. Then around four, just before the darkness descended it started falling and fell in quiet but large flakes that rapidly built up on the leaves and trees, the grass and cars and even the street. No wind to speak of, but constant snow. By 10 PM, at least three inches had accumulated on the top of the hot tub which was warming to a toasty 103℉. At 11 PM, Nyssa and I opened the hot tub lid and got in, the steam rising off the fabulously warm water. That contrast between hot water and cold, below freezing air and the gentle falling snowflakes was amazing. We simply folded the lid back on itself and sat there for 45 minutes in a state of complete relaxation.
Later during the overnight hours, things changed. I woke to the howling of the north wind past my window and as I looked out over the street, I could barely make out any more than the shape of the houses and massive snow coming down. By 8 AM it was obvious that most of the churches in town had cancelled services and the airport had essentially shut down. By noon, over 9 inches had fallen and the snow continued on throughout the day and into last night as well. So, this was just the dusting, the first three inches, the prelude to our second huge snow storm of 2010. The first dropped 10 inches on January 30th of this year... and now even more.
(end of post)
