ICE

Winter Trees

BY WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS

All the complicated details

of the attiring and

the disattiring are completed!

A liquid moon

moves gently among

the long branches.

Thus having prepared their buds

against a sure winter

the wise trees

stand sleeping in the cold.

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/174773

Today I hope you will indulge me by viewing some of the sights from my walks over the last 2 days.  Our world is dominated by ICE and Cold. We are fortunate to have  electricity...many around us have not.  This weather is hard and troubling.  But it is impossible to ignore the beauty.  So Happy Happiness and come take a walk with me ~~~~

December 24th after nearly and inch of ICE!

A Blade of Grass

An odd cold sky

Our Last Large Elm

These Trees look Sad to me

Especially this one....

Branch loss...there will be great deal of this....

Many Trees are bowing

My Icelander!

A strange day with the sun trying to happen but ground clouds from the ICE dominate 

Beech

Nearly an INCH!

Wild Turkeys came around at dusk...I put out feed for them...maybe they will return tomorrow?

Today~~ December 25th ~~ We have SUN but Bitter Cold!

Grateful for this beauty ~ Grateful for a warm home ~ Grateful to be home with my husband & son for this holiday time.  We will be celebrating quietly.  Today will be like most days we are together.  I believe each day is a gift and I strive to find JOY each and every day ~ so I say Happy Happiness!

But if makes you feel better *** Merry Christmas *** or whatever your tradition may be *** 

I embrace them ALL and send Love & Light to You & Yours ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Storms Coming!

My World Today

When I hear Ice Storm Coming I go into high gear!  All day today I have been making preparations.  I have been filling up water containers, doing all the laundry, filling the bathtub with water, and generally battening down the hatches.  I have a heightened awareness ever since the Great Ice Storm of January 1998.  We were here.  We lost power for 12 days and the phone was down for 4.  This was back in the day before widespread cell phones.  It would have been longer with the phone but my husband connected the wire that was lying on the ground with a couple of wire nuts and electrical tape...he is so handy!

The first 4 days of the storm in 98 I was home alone with my then 3 year old son.  My husband was out of town for his work.  I was pretty well off with wood heat and I had luckily left the bathtub full of water so I could flush.  But there were some lessons learned.  We now have a generator and we keep a supply of bottled water on hand.  We have more solar powered lights, a crank radio, and liquid paraffin for lanterns....better than kerosene!

Back in 98 I had my freezer in the cellar.  Now its in the unheated breezeway.  1997 was the first year we had raised our own chickens for meat.  I was going to loses them all to thawing if I didn't do something.  So I hauled them all out of the dark cellar to outside but near the house.  Then I broke a hole in the ice to access water from our pond.  I dipped heavy blankets into the fridge water and encapsulated the chickens with the wet blankets.  Luckily the temperatures dipped into the single digits so the water logged blankets froze and my chickens were saved! 

It was tough going all those days without power but there were some wonderful parts too.  I live in a "neighborhood" that is pretty spread out, about 5 families within walking distance.  As a rule we all keep to ourselves and like it like that.  But during the power outage we all checked on each other, share food, and one gal walked over a mile to a friend's house that had phone service and called out to let folks know we were all ok.  We had some of the best sledding ever on that ice.  Our 3 year old son took it all in stride.

I happened to have been reading Great Expectations by Charles Dickens before the storm hit.  It was kind of cool to finish the book by lamp light thinking about how he must have written the book under similar conditions.

So MAYBE we will lose power tonight.  MAYBE we won't have it for days.  We are ready.  But you might not hear from me for awhile if that happens.  

Here are some photos from 1998 to enjoy!

The Boyo could ride his scooter right on top of the Ice!

We collected Icicles to melt for cleaning water!

Cutie in a makeshift tubby!

More Fun with ICE!

Beauty

First Snowshoe

Finally, Tuesday, I made my first snowshoe. It was cold.  Only 20 when I went for my walk at 1:00 but that was better than 6 at 8:00 am.  I like to go first thing after my outside chores but, 20 was cold enough!  I love my quick step snap on snowshoes with their special boots!  I can just pop them on and GO! Apparently, not quick enough for Runa!  This is her saying lets go...Enough with the photography!  She loves to snowshoe as much as I do...maybe more!

Runa diving into the snow after a mouse.  Occasionally she actually captures one!

Ok ~~~ Let's Run Down the HILL!!

Ready ~ Set ~ GO!

Wheee! That was fun AND warming too!

Time for another snowshoe right NOW.  Today it is a bit warmer closer to 30.  Hope you enjoy this poem...it awakens a desire in me for a night snowshoe.  I have been burning the candle at both ends these days with all my Etsy work and Holiday preparations.  Things might be slowing a wee bit which I hope will help me bring more balance into my life.  Like right NOW...I will publish this and snap on my shoes and take Runa for a romp!  Happy Snow! 

First Snow

The snow
began here
this morning and all day
continued, its white
rhetoric everywhere
calling us back to why, how,
whence such beauty and what
the meaning, such
an oracular fever! flowing
past windows, an energy it seemed
would never ebb, never settle
less than lovely! and only now,
deep into night,
it has finally ended.
The silence
is immense,
and the heavens still hold
a million candles; nowhere
the familiar things:
stars, the moon,
the darkness we expect
and nightly turn from.  Trees
glitter like castles
of ribbons, the broad fields
smolder with light, a passing
creekbed lies
heaped with shining hills;
and though the questions
that have assailed us all day
remain—not a single
answer has been found—
walking out now
into the silence and the light
under the trees,
and through the fields,
feels like one.

Mary Oliver

COLD MOON

It has been frigid here in Freedom! But the cold has not kept me completely indoors. Monday evening I saw this sunset like light in the northeastern sky.  I went out to see.  Then I ran in and got my coat, half mittens, and camera...I should have grabbed a hat and full mittens.  I was halfway to the field before my eyelashes started to freeze but, it was worth it! I got to see this incredible moon rise!!

That is as long as I could take the cold before it started to hurt.  I ran in and got one more glimpse through a window from the safety and warmth of our house!

Winter Moon Through A Third Eye

Staring out the frosted glass,
I ponder there, alone.
The moon, at its fullest, its highest peak,
all I can think of are words.
Words flowing off that fullest moon,
being born from my ink stained pen.
I write those words upon the page;
my heart flowing with the ink.
The soon winter night inspires me.
Staring out the frosted glass:
I glimpse eternity. 

Adam M. Snow

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/winter-moon-through-a-third-eye/