Not much snow, mind you—something less than two inches. A few additional flakes do keep whirling around out there, but unless these light flurries increase, there'll be no making a snowman, and you'd be hard-pressed to mount much of a snowball fight.
Still, Moon-the-Dog and I couldn't be happier, since we both love snow and will take all we can get—though a certain member of the household was heard to mutter a few less enthusiastic words as she bustled through breakfast and all those complicated distaff-side details apparently involved in getting ready for work. Of course much of her mood's tone might have been due to the fact she had to be at her office desk a half-hour early in order to participate in a conference call among the bank's various branch managers. In the mysterious way Myladylove reasons through and applies such time-shifts to her personal schedule—which, naturally, becomes my schedule, as I'm first to arise, in order to have our breakfasts ready when she gets up—arriving a half-hour early at work necessitates a full extra hour at home in order to get going.
The up side is that an hour early for her means no more than an extra ten minutes for me, since I seldom sleep later than 6:00 a.m.—and only bother setting an alarm clock if I need to get up before 5:00 a.m.
This first snow was preceded by rain yesterday—apparently rather heavy rainfall to the north of here, as the river has been on the rise and getting more discolored all morning. The picturesque view above has changed considerably as the water's come up and muddied. Tomorrow and Sunday are supposed to be sunny, with more rain Monday, and partial clouds on Christmas Day. Which means Moon and I had better get our snowy rambles in today.
14 comments:
I will leave time sorting out to you...and whomever gives "patented lady looks".
I must, however, rave about the stunning beauty of the two photos you include. The winter solstice river is perfection personified. And the cardinal pair with the white background--Christmas card worthy.
Thanks for that gift of beauty today.
Oh, the river she is arise'
And the gin's agittin' low
And I scarcely think I'll git a drink
Till I git to Buffalo-
Till I git to Buffalo.
Exquisite - how beautiful snow looks on the river, particularly when I don't actually have to go out in it! And how well those birds look against that background and don't they know it in the way they are posinbg. Happy Christmas to you both Grizz.
KGMom…
Yup, the sorting of those female-patented looks is not something a wise man, or trained survivalist, wades into lightly. And I must add, are not strictly the province of ladies, as adjudged by either age or demeanor…as I've seen little 7-year old gals give identical looks to bewildered 7-year old boys, and for that matter, Moon-the-Dog occasionally gives me the canine version.
The photos are, however, safe for discussion. And I appreciate your nice comments and am glad you liked them. I'd love to impress you with my photographic expertise, but the truth is, both were pretty much point and shoot, taken while standing like a bulky, woolly-headed, coffee-sipping stump, perhaps three paces beyond my front door.
Judith…
Sounds like something a feller might have heard sung while pushing steers along one of the old cattle trails—or maybe read from the pen of Badger Clark. But then it ought to be rye rather than gin, which probably means it's modern. Either way, it fits, more of less, with my old river…still on the slow rise and the color of creamed coffee.
Weaver…
A snowy landscape is often too beautiful for words—and more beautiful than I can ever hope to capture with a lens, though I try with both. And really, I don't mind going out, though when a storm is doing its best outside, I love cozying up in a snug, warm cabin and watching it come down.
Merry Christmas to you—may the season bring blessings of wonder and joy.
It's got nothing to do with gender, Grizz. If you're not a Morning Person, the earlier you get up the groggier you are and the longer it takes to do anything at all. Simples.
Wonderful photos, here I am looking across the sea to the mainland people are walking the beach, the wind is not too bad, we are in for a warm to hot day, blue skies and the occasional ferry adds to the interest.
Merry Christmas and a New Year that brings good health and good cheer.
Marianne…
You are doubtless right—in fact, I'm not so much a "morning person" myself, just a shorter sleeper. I can go to bed at midnight and get up six hours later and be fine. I can even cut that sleep time to four hours and go for days before feeling bad. And I can't sleep longer no matter how long I stay in bed…so, I get up. Myladylove, on the other hand, needs a full eight hours, and isn't opposed to ten or twelve if given the chance. And as you say, the less sleep she has, the slower she gets ready to go. But the odd thing is she's wider awake when she does get up, sufficient sleep or not, while I'm not all that perky even though I've had my full rest. I need to ease into my days, sip coffee, take it one minute at a time. I start slow; she blasts off. She just seems to need more time where getting ready for work is concerned. But we worked around each other and it works fine.
Penny…
The flurries are still coming down here—though not much additional accumulation. The wind is moaning around the eaves. It is a dark and some would say, bitter, night. But I love it. In fact, I'm thinking of going out to a store and a country drive afterwards. Crazy, huh?
So no offense, but lovely as your situation sounds, I'll take right here, right, now, and be really happy these last few days before Christmas.
May you have the Merriest of a 2012 Christmas, and a wonderful and healthy New Year.
Marianne nailed it better than I ever could have, and I was going to try.
However I would add that certain species of the non-morning person might be wide awake but cranky about having to be there those extra thirty minutes. There is something about the time space continuum in these cases that causes more actions to be taken, every action to take longer, and poor, innocent bystanders (both critter and man) to be included in the mayhem.
.....
Your photos are beautiful and I'm loving all of these December posts. Thank you.
I get myself up with more time to spare when I have to go to an appointment earlier than normal, too, Grizz. For me (who pretty much takes care of all the household chores), it's more stressful knowing that I've GOT to get to work on time and can't be late.
However, I'm with Marianne regarding the situation in our household: Kali is decidedly not a morning person and needs extra time to get motivated when she has to get up earlier than normal.
We had a few flurries last (Friday) evening, but no accumulation at all--not like the beautiful frosting on your riverbanks. We DID have a tremendous amount of rain and wind over Thursday night; in fact, our creek was out of its banks on Friday morning--the first time it flooded during dry 2012.
I hope you, your Ladylove, and Moon-the-Dog have a good holiday!
Robin…
Oh, ho! I like that! Your employment of the "time space continuum" as part of the explanation. Physics AND mathematics! No wonder the logic escaped me. And here I thought it was merely physical and psychological. Plus you even recognized that there are different "species" of non-morning persons—which shows a real depth of understanding. Might I therefore infer you are speaking from personal experience?
By the way, I didn't mean to imply Myladylove's overall mood is all that different when forced to rise earlier than usual—although this is not the case should she have to do so several mornings in a row. Then she can be a rather sullen bear. But one or two mornings and she just grips and grumbles about having to get up, be there, do whatever, and yesterday morning, she focused some of those gripes and grumbles on the cold and snow and they way it would affect traffic. Otherwise, most mornings she's really the perkiest—after cooking and eating breakfast, I'm good to just sit quietly for awhile, sip coffee, and contemplate such weighty matters as the color of tree bark and that wrinkled rug which I'll probably stumble over if I don't straighten out once I gain full consciousness and get up.
Hey, I'm glad you like the posts. I'm never sure quite sure how they're being received.
Scott…
When I have to get up early, I just back things up whatever is needed and keep the usual "getting ready" timeframe. For me, that's about 30 minutes, showered, dressed, cup of coffee in hand and out the door. I can push it a little tighter, if I have to (leaving off coffee making frees a couple of minutes). But then I spent years on the road, in hotels, motels, lodges, and camps, cabins, private homes, tents, and the back of my pickup—and I had to hone a routine I could count on in order to be ready and presentable, and not miss meetings, appointments, meals, tour buses, boats, and planes. You learn to do everything beforehand possible, and not waste a moment.
At home, I get up when I do—which is 45 minutes or more before Myladylove—because I've "slept out" and also to fix our breakfasts so she can sleep as long as possible. But I do all the cooking because I love to cook and have cooked all my life, for everyone. I also do some of the household chores such as the regular washing and dishes. The laundry room is across the hall from my writing room. It only takes a couple of minutes to sort and start a load, or keep the dryer going. And I do the dishes while I'm cooking, or at noon after lunch. We don't have a dishwasher, and much as I hate to admit this, I sorta like doing dishes. The truth is, we don't see any of it as "your" chores and "my" chores…just "our" chores, and we work to our strengths and timeframes, as a team.
Myladylove is not one of those sullen, fuzzy-headed, slow-starting morning people once she's up. She's alert, running around multi-tasking, far more zippy than I feel, in spite of the fact I'm up and cooking. I'm simply cruising in my well-orchestrated routine…and I have to regularly run her out of the kitchen because she's bustling around distracting and confusing me, considerably raising the risk I'll burn the eggs, scorch the oatmeal, and put ginger cookies in the dog's dish instead of kibbles.
Sorry you didn't get a lovely layer of snow yesterday. Unfortunately, at least half of what we received has already melted; lots of bare patches showing along the riverbanks. The river is still high and muddy, though no longer on the rise. More rain is in the forecast, however. Probably not going to be the most picturesque Christmas.
I hope you and yours have a safe and happy Christmas holiday. Good gifts, tasty eats, time outdoors—and especially time with one another and whatever family and friends are around to help celebrate.
Post a Comment