Closed for the season

Happy New Year!
This was the scene on Jan. 1 2008

Old snow
Snow is beautiful when it first falls, and here for some time afterward because there isn't much traffic exhaust to blacken the snow. But eventually it does get dirty, and it does melt, and then everything looks really yucky. There is no other way to put it--yucky.
The ground is muddy with clumps of dirty ice melting, the snow is rotting with blackened edges, and all sorts of long forgotten things surface from below the snow. It is not a great time of year, and certainly one never featured in calendars!

Hydrangea in snow


I saw this dried blossom lying in a footprint in the snow. It amazes me that something so delicate could survive wind, ice, snow, rain and now melting snow.
I do not know if it was blown into the print by the wind or if it was under the snow for sometime, blown and buried during a storm.

Sedum with cat tracks.
Remember the sedum with snow on top? It is almost buried in snow now. Even with all of the snow we got it was never completely buried. The recent warm days have receded the snow, but it is still quite deep, particularly in this area of the yard where the wind blows it into drifts made deeper by the snowbanks from the road.

Coffee stop.
This is a place where I sometimes stop for coffee on my drive to work. It sort of looks like a last outpost or something. Often there are a few snowmobiles getting gas.
It is a general store and a small restaurant. I like it, because the road beyond, while beautiful, is long and there is no where to stop for many miles.
An outpost indeed!

Our house in the snow.
There really is a lot of snow! These are the snowbanks along the road, but it is almost as deep behind the banks.
If you click on the picture to make it full frame you can see that the snow goes up to the porch (we did shovel a small path, though) and up to the front door.
There are tamped-down paths where I walk across the yard, but the snow is over my knees.

Full moon in February.
Even though I am posting this after the date it was taken I was surprised at the time that a whole month had passed since beginning this project. I love watching the full moon rise over the field and the barn. For several days the nights have been bright with cold silver-grey moonlight, but here the light, with the pinks in the eastern sky, almost look warm.

Frosty Rose
When it gets really cold, below zero cold, the horses's muzzles get all frosty from their breath. Rose's forelock and mane also have a touch of frost.

Note on posts--for a while, since I am trying to catch up, the pictures will not necessarily be ones taken on the date of the post. I decided that was best, since I got behind on taking pictures. I kept getting a chance to take pictures at the same time of day and did not have a lot of variety, so I decided to post pictures from days when I took more than one.

Frosty milkweed
It was very cold this morning, and everything seemed to have frost on it. This is some frozen milkweed near the horse pasture, its seeds still in the pod. I often wonder with all of the wind we have here, how those seeds manage to stay fast.

Spruce in snow storm

We have five spruce trees that were planted to block the wind, I think. They line the driveway and are quite tall. I once met the person who planted them, but I can't remember when they were planted. I don't think they block the wind much either, but maybe they do.
Here they are in a light snowstorm.

Feed bucket in snow

This is the bucket I use to feed the horses every day, twice a day. Today has a little snow in it. Sometimes there is more snow, or water from the rain, depending on the weather. Of course, if I leave it in the barn instead of near the porch it stays dry, but often it is easier (an warmer or dryer!) to leave it near the porch and go right into the house.

Wind in spite of the 5 spruces
Living on a hill we get a lot of wind! Many people who have lived in this area longer than I talk about their memories of wind at my house. Several of them delivered coal or oil here at one time. To hear them talk about it you'd think the house is perpetually hit with gale force winds and blizzard conditions.
It is not always windy, but usually if there is wind it is here in force. The wind has hit the house hard enough that we can feel it move and hear the china rattle. Really!!!

Snow on spruce
It is finally snowing!! Actually it is quite windy, but I managed to get a picture of the snow nestled into the needles of this tree. This is one of five trees that line my drive, planted, I think, to block the wind.
This is pretty nice snow, fairly light and fluffy, but heavy enough to accumulate in the trees. It is the kind of snow that looks just like the fake snow on trees in model train sets.

Cold, cold morning
It is really cold this morning. This is a picture looking at the sunrising over the hill across from my house. I tried to get a sense of the cold, the shadows and the still feel of a cold day in Northern New England.
There is no warmth in that sun. It is below 0 and early in the morning. The snow squeaks under my feet. The sun is still low on the horizon. As the days pass it will rise further and further to the north, arcing across the horizon.

January 16--Sunset Below Zero

It is definitely January! When it is this cold and there isn't any wind the stillness is complete. It is very quiet, the only sounds are the snap of trees in the woods and the crunch of the horses walking through the snow. The snow has an icy crust which sounds quite startling when it breaks, particularly after dark when the horses are invisible in the field. I love being outside in this weather. The air is so clear and still that it seems the world is held in a momentary pause, the gap between one breath and the next.