March Madness

No, I'm not talking about college basketball here, but rather the crazy weather that has characterized this winter and launched us into March. We finally got some of the long-absent heavier snows that we should have seen during December, January, and much of February. It waited until the end of the month - to the eve of Leap Day (February 29) - before rolling in here to blanket the landscape.

The good news is that it wasn't all that much snow - maybe 6 inches or so, it didn't come down incessantly - maybe 18 hours, off and on, and it's already melting rapidly under 50 degree air temperatures and a blazing sun that I'm sure is having its impact. All of those factors make me much happier than I might otherwise be with a "heavy" snowfall. And they are nothing compared to the devastation that has befallen some communities in Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky from the spate of tornadoes that slammed into them in the past few days. I send them prayers for recovery, and count my blessings for the relatively minor effects the snow has had on life here.

Just before the snows started to fall on Tuesday, I was up very early (as usual) and found, as I looked out the window, that I was not alone. A small herd of deer were making their way up the hill to the lawn, as they have been inclined to do fairly regularly this winter, for their morning graze. There were a couple of fairly small ones lagging at the back of the group - fawns that are probably six months to a year old, I'd guess. What made this little group a bit unusual was how close to the house they came that morning. Usually they're a good 50-75 feet from the structure...far enough that they can dart quickly to the adjacent woods, but Tuesday one of the ringleaders showed no real reluctance to stroll just beyond the windows. So, of course, I grabbed my camera and tried to snap a few shots as quickly as I could before I spooked him (or her...).

It was fun to see them out there, finding plenty of room to roam and graze, along with the shelter of the woods. It struck me as I observed them that they really are well designed by Mother Nature to blend fairly invisibly into the landscape with their light brown coats matching the grey/putty color of the terrain.

The other neat thing about this time of year is the ongoing display I've been enjoying from my amaryllis bulbs. My previous post displayed the brilliant Valentine red blooms of my largest flower, but those blossoms have faded. I'm now admiring the salmon pink of my second and third bulbs, which have provided a bit of cheer in an otherwise bleak view of the outdoors.

My pink geraniums, wintered over from last summer, also are in bloom and continue to thrive in the south-facing windows and sunny warmth of this partially passive solar house. They've been wonderful reminders that Spring, and cute bunnies and pastel colored things are not far in the future...along with shamrocks and corned beef. I'm more than ready for all of them!

Yet Another New Year - Here We Go!

It's hard to believe it already has been five days since the arrival of 2012. If that's any indication, I have a feeling a lot of this year is going to fly right by. I have no idea where 2011 went, but go it did, so here we are.

The holidays were fairly low key out here in Country Contemporary land. We managed to squeak through the last weeks of December without any of the snow that descended so strangely in late October. I'll take it. I'm not a big snow fan, and heaven knows, after Irene's and Lee's visits, and an unusually wet summer season, we do NOT need that much snow. The creeks and streams are full to bursting still - very atypical for winter, when we usually just have a minor trickle. That's when the snows of winter and their melting in Spring becomes so crucial. Well, if we see any significant snows this winter, we're going to have some very BIG trouble come the warmer temperatures of Spring.

For my part, I'm just glad that - for the moment - we have not had any of the issues that make winter so treacherous. I'm very fond of bare pavement on the roads and that hasn't been a problem so far this season. Huge relief here.

In fact, while it has been unusually warm in November and December, we've had our first real winter chills in the past few days, with overnight temperatures being in the single digits and wind chills below zero in some areas. That said, it was in the 40s last week, and the forecast for the weekend is expected to hit that level, and flirt with 50 on Saturday. I can't tell you how happy that makes me. With every passing warmer-than-normal day we have, we're that much closer to Spring, as the minutes of daylight we see continue to lengthen.

We rounded that bend on the winter equinox late last month, and no sooner did we set the clocks back in early November (now implemented blissfully a week later than in years past - I view that as a perfect global birthday gift for my personal early November celebration), and we flipped the switch just a few weeks later (well, about six weeks later) to recapture a few more minutes of daylight in late December. All of these temporal landmarks make me supremely happy...well, as happy as I can be during my least favorite season of the year.

Here's hoping that this New Year will bring us all warm sunshine, blue skies, and a few extra minutes each day to stop, reflect on our blessings, and bask in the glow of the possibilities of the year ahead.

Cheers & Happy New Year!

And, now, for that marvelous month...November!

Even though the snow in the previous post melted within a matter of days (thank goodness!), it has taken me much longer to recover from that startling shock to the visual landscape out my windows, and to my system.

I am not a fan of snow. I needed the autumn to be autumnal, not winter-like. Once the snows receded, the green grass and orange and yellow leaves on the trees re-emerged to make the scenery much more typical for early November. And now, it's nearly Thanksgiving.

While all the brilliant colors of fall have given way to the stark, leafless landscape of winter, I'm continuing to celebrate the season with a few displays of color inside the house. And I'm starting to think about the festivities of fall, the cornucopias and the sumptuous dining of Thanksgiving.

I'll be joining friends for Thanksgiving this year, having hosted more than my share of celebrations, and having no family living nearby any longer. I don't mind, in fact, these friends of many years are, in many ways, as close as family to me and that's a great comfort.

I celebrated a birthday this month. Not a monumental one, mind you, but a birthday nonetheless. And just a day before, I learned that one of my friends of many decades with whom I unfortunately hadn't been in close touch in some years, had passed away. Actually, she died quite some time ago.

It was sad news to learn rather unexpectedly, and I discovered it when I read that her mother had died more recently. My friend's passing saddened me, but it wasn't surprising news, since I'd known she'd had a long history of medical issues. Still, I'd thought she'd gotten it all under control and had gone on from the illness that had plagued her 20s - when we first met - to reach a ripe adulthood. It just wasn't meant to be a very long life, apparently, but it was a life very well lived for another 35 years, and she lived it to the fullest, as I knew she would.

She left a beloved husband of many years, grown children - probably her greatest joy and certainly her proudest accomplishment - and she left many good friends. For me, while our contact was sporadic, our friendship was constant...not one that required frequent contact, for when we were in touch, it was as if no time had passed. She had a full and busy life, and mine took me in another direction personally, professionally and geographically, but that shared experience of our young adulthood was our common ground. I'll always treasure that time we shared many decades ago and I'll miss her. I wish I had known she wasn't doing well so I could have told her how important she was to me in my young life and how much I wish we could have spent more time in touch over the decades. But, alas, it was not to be...

So as I look ahead to Thanksgiving, I think about those who filled my holiday table over the years, parents and elder family members now gone; a few dear friends now gone, too. The memories of those good times provide the frame of reference for my life. Those who will surround holiday tables now become more important to me than ever. They are the new "family," and are part of my new reality.

As you enjoy your Thanksgiving, look around at those near you. Celebrate them and the good fortune to experience a special holiday that's all about giving thanks. I know I will.

Winter in October?

Well, here we are, barely one month into autum and we were slammed with a freak snowstorm yesterday (October 28), dropping about 2 inches on the ground...and it stuck! Oh, yes, it stuck, indeed. It's a veritable winter wonderland with autumn leaves still on the trees...crazy!


If this is what we get in the middle of autumn, I wonder what winter will bring?

Cure for Cabin Fever

It has been a busy month (when isn't it a busy month?!), but I'm taking a momentary break from the fray to share a few shots of the snow-covered terrain around the country house, an unexpected (but not surprising) visitor, and a bit of winter brilliance.

It's old, but, seemingly, ongoing news that the Northeast has been bombarded with heavy snows. There appears to be no let-up in sight either. (It is, obviously, midwinter.) We're pretty accustomed to heavy snows in these parts, but some years are far worse than others. (Last year was a snowfall cake-walk compared to this winter.) I've mentioned this before, but the good news is that we're well equipped to deal with it before it comes and throughout its duration - which is more than can be said for other parts of the mid-south and south, that are paralyzed by it, so things calm down as soon as the falling snow departs.

Here are a few shots of the most recent arrival, about a week or so ago:

An unexpected visitor strolled by with a friend the other day...it was bitterly cold, so I hope they were able to find some nourishment and protection in the woods next to the house...



Still, I'm not a fan of the white stuff. It's pretty when it first arrives at the start of the season (just before Christmas is nice), but, after about month, I've usually had enough. There's only so much shoveling and path-clearing I (and my muscles) can tolerate. I like my roads clear and dry, too, so, not being a "winter sports" enthusiast (I don't ski, snowboard, snowshoe and I haven't skated since childhood and don't care to go there again), I'm pretty much done with it at this point. After what, according to the weather experts, has been the eighth snowiest winter on record here in upstate New York (and still counting), I'm more than ready for Spring to come - much sooner than later, too, please!

A very dear friend recently made a holiday venture of potting up some flower bulbs - paperwhite narcissus and amaryllis - that she put in pretty containers and placed in a local consignment shop for sale. I gave her a number of extra white, hobnail glass planters that I had accumulated (since I've been clearing out the family home for the past month) along with some others of a suitable size and style that I picked up for her at my local Goodwill. It was, all told, a modestly successful initiative, but what my sweet friend didn't tell me was that she also intended to return one of my glass pots, containing a beautiful, big amaryllis bulb already started in potting soil, to me as a Christmas gift. It was a lovely gesture, and the nicest part was that the visual gratification would be delayed by a month, when the stalk and flowers gradually would emerge. Emerge they did and it has been a glorious sight watching the deep, coral-colored blooms slowly unfold and brighten some of these bleak snowy days of winter:

It's an affirmation that Spring is indeed coming...I know it is.

For the (Winter) Birds...

Snow, snow, snow...the latest Nor'Easter to hit upstate New York left us with a fairly substantial calling card, but it didn't deter the birds who have made my bird feeder their daily source of food.  Good thing I filled it up before the last storm.

I heard on the news yesterday that it's only 65 (now 64) days until Spring (March 20).  That's encouraging - only two months to go - and the daylight is lasting just a bit longer than it did two months ago.  It's no longer dark as night at 5pm (always a tough transition for me to accommodate) and we've rounded the bend back toward warm sun, lush green trees and grass, and longer daylight days and evenings...aaahhhh!

I've put away most of the holiday decorations and have transitioned to just those generic "midwinter" items.  I like to keep the symbols of winter - natural pine cones and some evergreens - as my literal and figurative references and decorative gestures. 

The nice thing is that the brilliant ruby reds of the holidays make the transitional color thread right to Valentine's Day.  It's just the shot of color I need in the house to brighten these sometimes bleak, snow-covered winter days.  I've even pulled the Valentine's and Easter boxes out of storage as I plan the pieces what I want to bring out that will carry me visually and psychically through the winter and right up to the very edge of Spring.

   

Boxing Day Blizzard of 2010

It floated in innocently enough. A few flurries here and there, nothing terribly problematic. They faded. A few hours passed, and they began again...in earnest, and eventually with a vengeance. I had run my errands on Christmas Eve and had stocked up so I didn't need to make a run to the grocery store for milk. The kitties would be happy. I would have milk for my coffee. It could do whatever it wanted out there. And, not unexpectedly, it did.

By Sunday evening on this Boxing Day 2010 - a wonderful British holiday tradition you should check out if you don't know about it (and it has nothing whatsoever to do with pugilistics) - the winds were howling like I'd never seen or heard out here in the country. The neat thing was I could literally see the winds since they were whipping the snow into a complete frenzy right outside my windows! There were moments with the way the winds were sweeping through the trees, and all around the house, swirling the snow, that it literally was like I was watching white mini-tornadoes! Seriously...their velocity and twisting motion was staggering. I was glad I was able to watch it, as if it was some kind of weird, white, Weather Channel documentary, from the safety and warmth of the house. Phew!

By morning, the snows continued, but the bulk of the accumulation was already well on the ground and roads. Other parts of the Northeast well might have been more inundated than we, but for this upstate New York region, my county and my town got the brunt of the storm in these parts, according to the local television newscasts. Twenty inches, possibly more, 5-foot drifts. It was more than enough.

The view (above) out my front door yesterday morning, after the storm had passed and the sun emerged.

For all the years (half a century-plus) I've lived here (all of my life, actually), I've seen big snowstorms and blizzards. This was one of the big ones, for sure, but I'm not sure it was the biggest I've seen. It was big enough, though. Ususally our weather here in upstate New York follows the flow of the jet stream, blowing across the land from west to east, or from the chilly North of Canada. This blizzard, was, in fact, a true Nor'Easter - a storm, whether rain or snow, that moves north along the Atlantic coast, picking up moisture from the ocean as it spins counter-clockwise and dumps its rains or snows onto the land mass of the Northeast in its path. How quickly the front moves along, and eventually, off the coast determines how much rain or snow those of us in its path, even 100 miles inland, ultimately receive. A lot in the case of the Boxing Day Blizzard.

The good news is we knew it, or at least something, was coming at least two days in advance. Fortunately, I didn't have to go anywhere or do anything and could just wait and watch and let it play out. Unfortunately, others who were traveling for the holiday weekend didn't have that good fortune. Certainly, the havoc this blizzard wreaked on the transportation system in the Northeast was significant, and will take days to untangle, but, to be honest, with storms like this, it always is. What amazes (and amuses) me is that people are so upset by it - as if they are entitled to the utmost in travel convenience at all times. Hello, folks? It's winter. It's the Northeast. It snows here...a lot sometimes. Ding! Ding! This storm was forecast, so I don't get what part of winter weather and preparation for it they don't understand.

It takes time to clear the roads, although to the credit of the highway crews in my town, in my county and in my state, they were plowing before dawn on Monday morning. In the interest of full disclosure, I spent some time in my life - more than a decade, in fact - working for a highway authority - yes, that would be government - so I do know what goes on with these operations. I appreciate those guys (and some gals) who drive the plows and clear the roads more than I can say. We take completely for granted the safety and convenience they provide and, to be honest, while the taxes we pay here in New York are the highest in the country, it's times like this, when those folks do their jobs so efficiently and effectively, that it takes just a tiny little bit of the sting out of that financial burden. In my corner of the globe, they are worth every penny we pay for them.

If you find yourself traveling in a part of the country where even a dusting of snow or ice completely paralyzes all travel for days on end, you'll know what I mean and appreciate that while it can slow or even stop us cold briefly, things do get going as quickly as Mother Nature and the resources we allocate for plows and plow operators allow - and it's pretty darn fast, all things considered.

Dawn this morning, two days after the Boxing Day Blizzard of 2010.

It's no secret that winter weather can be very tough here in the snowbelt of the Northeastern US, but we do know how to cope with it and cope we do. I just wonder why those who are caught out by it don't get that program every time some overwhelming volume of snow seriously impedes the free flow of air, rail and highway travel. With patience, as soon as Mother Nature allows, we'll get her white mess out of the way. And we'll do a far better job of managing it faster here in the Northeast, and in New York, than many other parts of the country can. You can thank me and the rest of us in New York later for our tax dollars and highway tolls at work to make everyone's trip just a little safer and a little easier.