Nature's Ice Sculptures...

Winter came down to our home one night
Quietly pirouetting in on silvery-toed slippers of snow,
And we, we were children once again.
~Bill Morgan, Jr.


Isn't there such a stark beauty in the whiteness of the snow contrasting with the darkness of the trunks and branches of the trees? I enjoyed vistas such as these on my drive home from work today. The weight of the snow and ice had the pine trees bending down almost as if in a bow of deference to the mighty wonder of Mother Nature. Of course, I wasn't thinking such thoughts early this morning. Oh no, I was much more concerned with keeping my car between the little ruts made by cars passing by before me. Yesterday morning we started the day with 6 inches of snow, followed by an entire evening of sleety rain. It left almost an inch of ice covering everything it touched. This morning was declared a snow emergency-level 2 and 3. But duty called, and I answered reluctantly. After I arrived at the donut place, it commenced to snowing again. Fast and furious, flakes as big as quarters or even larger. The cars in the parking lot were soon obscured by the additional 6 inches of frozen water flakes.

There were few brave souls who ventured out onto the clogged veins of snow and ice laden streets. But drywall must be made to eventually fortify the walls of other people's humble abodes. We soldiered on with a skeleton crew. The reports of road closures, and extreme warnings from official names resulted in the decision by the higher pay grades to cancel the 2 oncoming shifts. Equipment was shut down, lights turned off, and the worker bees released to find their way home.



This is the view that greeted me outside my kitchen door, as I stepped to the deck with my camera in hand. I had to preserve the beauty in that starkness at that precise second of time.






And so it goes......