Today is an unseasonable wealth of bright sun and clear blue sky, with a predicted high of 48˚F! An amazing temperature for this time of year during a typical Ohio winter…though I'm becoming increasingly convinced that "typical" is a word which may have outlived it's usefulness when it comes to accurately describing seasons and weather.
What's typical anymore? This winter, like last year's version, is anything but typical. Is untypical now the typical?
Hey, I'm not the only one confused.
Daffodils are coming up all around the cottage. In the yard of my neighbor on the hill the ground is awash with patches of white snowdrops and yellow aconites—and both have already been blooming at her place for at least a couple of weeks! More than a month ahead of their typical schedule.
A January thaw is one thing, this is something else. It really hasn't been all that cold since winter began—though that's soon going to change somewhat. Tomorrow's high will only reach 28˚F, and by Tuesday the high temp is predicted at 12˚F. That is cold, at least relatively speaking—though again, during a typical Buckeye winter, we'd already have been there and done that several times, and by now, probably seen a few days with highs below zero; 12˚ above might have constituted a warming trend.
Of course winter isn't over. But no matter what the weather does from here on out, the shaggy white beast of winter has already lost its bite.
10 comments:
I know these warmer winters are tough on a winter lover like you, Grizz, but just hang in there, my friend. I predict that those daffodils will be challenged before all is said and done.
George…
I wouldn't bet against some cold and snowy days ahead, either. In fact, I fully expect them. But today's high reached 52˚F. For winter to get a really good grip on the landscape, there has to be an extended period of serious cold—sufficient to freeze deep and keep the earth just below the surface frozen through January thaws and the like…and I just don't think that can happen in the time remaining. Not only are daffodils coming up, and snowdrops and aconites in bloom, but the magenta spathes of skunk cabbage, the year's first wildflower, are bloomed, too—every bit of a month early.
Grizz: It was 50 degrees here in the northern Piedmont yesterday, too, and I noticed that my snowdrops were beginning to poke up out of the ground--but certainly aren't blooming yet. Your neighbor must have a major southern exposure for the bulbs to be SO confused.
HI GRIZZ - looking forward to the arctic blast promised for Tuesday in the hopes it will kill off the viruses/flu bugs about. It is lovely here - today is in the 40's a bit cloudy now but still and Wintry looking at least. We went to our town beach yesterday and it was gorgeous - I put some pics on Facebook if you get a moment to take a look. Well, happy Sunday my friend - SKipp is working so I am going to search for a girlie movie, make myself a big cup of tea and enjoy a liverwurst sandwich - I treat myself to Deutmacher liverwurst once in a while - I Love it on white bread with mustard.
Talk about blessings and things to be grateful for!!!
Love to you
Gail
peace.....
Scott…
Well, yesterday's 52˚ has been replaced by today's 29˚F, though the day was still mostly sunny. And the river is all but back at normal pool. So no complaints.
Re. my neighbor's blooming flowers…actually many of the snowdrops are on an east-facing bank, and the whole acre-sized yard is, for the most part, thick with large trees, predominately sycamores. Plus the whole neighborhood is quite wooded—lots of trees along the roads and in the yards. There are, at a guess, a thousand or more snowdrops in bloom on all sides of the property, which is more brushy and woodsy than manicured. The yellow winter aconites, too, are in scattered patches—some several feet across—though the ones I can see from the road would be on the south side of the property.
I've admired those snowdrops for years. Long before moving here, I used to pass this house fairly frequently, which is on the corner of a through road. Now I turn there to reach our cottage on this dead-end street. But for years, those snowdrops were always the earliest blooming flowers I knew anywhere around. Frankly, the entire property must be one big bed of naturalized bulbs, because in addition to the snowdrops and aconites, there are hundreds of daffodils, crocus, tulips, hyacinths, alliums, squills, aneomones, freeisas, and others, plus lots of bloodroots, dutchman's breeches, jacks-in-the-pulpit, trout lilies, and a dozen more spring ephemerals. It's an older home and someone long ago obviouly went to a lot of work starting and caring for an amazing number of blooming plants—and nowadays, the results start early (though seldom this early!) and blooming in profusion all season long. I'm sinfully envious!
Gail…
Gosh, it's been years since I've had liverwurst—but I may just try and find some the next time I'm grocery shopping. We had it fairly often at home when I was growing up. I liked it on toasted wheat or rye, with onions, lettuce, and tomato and a bit of brown mustard or homemade mayo.
Sort of a close Southern cousin—which I'll bet you've never had, and probably never even heard of—is livermush, which you can seldom find north of the Mason-Dixon line, but which is a wonderful thing for breakfast…or just about any time.
Stay warm and enjoy that liverwurst!
The sandwich was great - the bread so fresh it stuck to the roof of my mouth - love that. And nope, never heard of livermush, I bet I would love it though. :-) And your layered liverwurst sandwich combo sounds good but I stick to the liverwurst, mustard on soft white bread - and dare I say, I use yellow mustard on this one!
Love you truly
Gail
peace.....
Here too my friend. My daffodils are a good eight weeks ahead of schedule and have now frozen. I doubt I'll see any flowers from them in March. It's been an odd winter indeed with highs in the 70's here the first week of January. Sigh.
Gail…
Now see, I don't like anything stuck to the roof of my mouth, including peanut butter. But the liverwurst sounds good. I baked spicy brown rice in homemade bouillon with lots of diced veggies; great one-dish meal.
Jayne…
Don't know how my daffodils will turn out, though I don't think they'll be hurt. I've had them snowed on repeatedly and still bloom. But if they do bloom way early and then it snows and turns cold, that's different. For sure any blooms wilt immediately. We didn't have 70˚, but we had upper-60˚s a couple of weeks ago. Winters are getter really strange.
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