Monday, January 3, 2011

It's Snow Time!

This morning I got up early, awakened by the silence of the falling snow.  Normally, I would pull the covers over my head and return to my dreams, but I've got a brand new camera and have lately been heard to lament the lack of interesting things to photograph, so off I went into the white wilderness to capture some scenes and drag them back to the blog.






Actually, before I went out, I took this picture of the garage through a window in the sunroom.




See the row of windows along the left side of the house?  That's what we refer to as the sunroom.  Not too sunny today, though the colour of our house adds a pleasantly warm, sunshiney glow, don't you think?  It used to be painted white but we found it was too difficult to find our way home in the winter.
I wanted to get out there first thing in the morning while the tree limbs were still outlined in snow, before the wind blew it off, or it fell from its own weight.  I love the scribbled lines the branches make against the blank canvas of the colourless sky.




The lilac bush is wearing white blossoms now instead of its normal...um...lilac hued blooms.

The two windows at the top of the house that look like its eyes are in my studio.




If you were to look out one of those windows, you'd be looking down onto this scene.   See that rooftop peeking out from behind the tree on the left of the picture?  That's our abandonned house.  Abandonned except for the raccoons that live there, though it's been awhile since I've seen any of them. 
Maybe they went to Paris to see the Monet exhibit.




Outside the back door, under a tree next to the driveway,  is a twig bench that my neighbour made for us several years ago.  I think it needs to be taken in for repairs, but the cat likes to use it as a scratching post, or as a perch in the summer to survey the territory and keep an eye out for raccoons.  Or skunks.



And this is how deep the snow was at 9:00 this morning--
Right up to my knees! 
It's snow time, babies!
Can you dig it?


25 comments:

  1. I can dig it very well vicariously - am loving seeing all these monochrome snow shots on so many blogs - just sun and bright, bright colours here I am afraid!! Happy New Year....

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  2. Dig we must for Greater New York.

    This was a sign purloined from a road crew in NYC that used to appear at archaeology sites in the Burrard Inlet area.

    It is a phrase I still sometimes murmur to myself when rearranging our white bounty.

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  3. You are doing a wonderful job with that new camera! The photos are stunning and I love the yellow paint!
    Happy New Year!!

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  4. Might have been the sound of light, which made you write / paint these images; and as there can't be a dark yellow ever, for sure suns light to be seen there.

    Years since last I felt snow with me own senses. Thank you for the memories. Much fun and a good Tuesday for you all.

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  5. my favourite is you high-stepping! but don't we call it the Long Room?
    oxo

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  6. Catherine,
    I'm pleased to give your eyes a rest from all those gorgeous, hot, contrasting colours you capture so well.

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  7. DCW,
    That is excellent! I can just about hear you muttering, all the way down here. And I love the fact that it would appear at archeological sites...kind of like "Kilroy was here."

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  8. Patricia,
    I did have fun with my new camera...but also couldn't stop myself from playing with the images in Photoshop. At least I have crisper fodder for playing around with.

    And a happy new year to you, as well!

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  9. Robert,
    Travelling through life at the sound of light! Yes, light is like music, affecting one's moods and emotions. Will you accept the possibility of a deep yellow? But don't eat yellow snow!

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  10. c,
    High-stepping! Where's a majorette baton when a girl needs one? The long room has somehow morphed into being the sunroom. Rather like the time when the native (formerly Indian) longhouse was deemed no longer morphologically correct and was subsequently dubbed as the big house...which made it sound as though one was going to do time in jail rather than attend a potlach. You can't make cheesecake out of bannock!

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  11. oh boy, looks like someone is in the deep stuff now !

    What a pleasure to see these pix of the homestead, a very pleasing, bright, colorful, lots of angles kind of place it seems to be...

    Can't wait someday to see more details of the abandoned house haunted by the raccoons...

    So how many more feet of snow will you get before the winter is out ? Looks like you're just getting warmed up now ! Best get back over to Saj's place for more champagne jam, or whatever it is she's serving up...
    :-)

    PS you wouldn't believe me if I told you why it took so long to get here today, so I shan't, but it involved power drills, broken water faucets, clogged up wastewater pipes, broken tree branches, checks to write, flea bag cats to de-flea, a whole multitude of harrying and harrassing issues that were all conspiring to prevent me from doing what I love best these days... and now it's off to work again after too short a break... no rest for the weary ! A short nap first though... Hope your snowshoes and snow shovels are handy !

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  12. i love the idea of you painting the house yellow to warm up its welcome even more! it certainly gives off that warm vibe in the pictures!

    my favorite pic is the one with the tree and twig bench -the perspective makes me feel like i'm part of the tree.

    what camera did you get?

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  13. BrOwen,
    Ah, there's nothing like the pleasure of being a home-owner and the toad-about-the-house, is there!

    I don't think you'll be seeing any up-close pix of the abandonned house any time soon...if ever. Last time Pierre ventured in, about 3 years ago, he fell through the floor. Fortunately, he was on the ground floor. I was standing at a safe distance outside and witnessed his sudden disappearance (he and the neighbour had just pulled off the summer kitchen at the back of the house so it was wide open). I must admit, it gave me a good laugh (once I knew he was safe).

    Winter here lasts till mid-April, so, yes, there will be more snow to come. I leave the shovelling to Pierre--it's against my moral principles to shift snow because I am personally affronted by its very existence.

    Champagne jam...if I only had some good French cheese to go with it.

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  14. PS, BrOwen--

    I probably shouldn't show you this:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRFsTCxIsmA

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  15. Manuela,
    After we painted the house yellow, I received many positive comments on it from complete strangers when I'd be out for my daily walks in the village. It was nice, but also a bit weird because they knew who I was and where I lived whereas I didn't have a clue about them.

    It feels good to be part of a tree, doesn't it. They're very grounded beings but with lofty thoughts.

    My new camera is a Canon Powershot SX130 IS. Nothing fancy, but it's definitely a step up from what I've been using these past many years.

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  16. i just happened to read this the other day, for canon cameras:

    http://spectrum.ieee.org/geek-life/hands-on/using-the-canon-hack-development-kit/?utm_source=techalert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=103012

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  17. Whoa, lucky you have knees that far up your leg otherwise we wouldn't have seen you in that snow! What marvelous fun to see, not sure what it would be like to be in it as we don't get that much snow here in our city. In fact, the minute it looks like snow everyone panics and heads home 'in case' (of what I'm not sure, I'm just glad to skive off work early) BUT it's summer here anyway. And it's 26 degrees.

    Love the tree-scribble too, and the twig seat would indeed make a great 'fort' for the cat.

    Now, you will have to pretend that I sang all that to you because my WV is "sangami"

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  18. Manuela,
    That's really interesting info. I'd be afraid to tamper, though. Have really just figured out how to turn the thing on--well, I'm exaggerating; but I'm reluctant to tamper with things that seem pretty much geek to me.
    :-)

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  19. Saj,
    "Sangami!" You're speaking Italian again: you know how I love it when you do! I also liked it when you called me naughty over at your place. It gets tiring being the bossy...I mean...responsible big sister all the time so it's refreshing to have someone else take on the role for a minute. Okay, that's enough now--give it back!

    I really think I could get used to having Christmas be in the summer. Or having summer be in the winter, and winter be somewhere wherever I'm not.

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  20. Well, anytime you feel like a southern hemisphere Yuletide, you just let me know! I'll get the supplies in and start waiting for you...

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  21. Saj,
    OK. And I'll start cashing in the empties to get enough pennies together for the fare!

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  22. Responsible big sister? Maybe in that upside down world down under...or are you just snow blind?

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  23. wowowowow - I want to be there

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  24. carmenooch,
    I resemble that! (don't shatter the Sagittarian's delusions about me)

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  25. Lulu,
    Things must really be much too hot in your office!

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