Winter!

I had something else in mind, but since it's been snowing a few hours now, and this is a blog about the seasons, I thought I'd better give you the pleasure of enjoying some snow pictures - especially those of you in sunny climes where you don't get to see this every day for most of 4 months.  So here's a special winter treat, the early hours of our first real winter storm (even though we had an earlier snowfall back in late October).

The early snow on our fencerow outlines all the big boulders in white.  It had only been snowing very lightly for an hour of two at this point.

 The whole meadow was starting to turn from brown to white, epitomized by this dry stalk of grass.

And there were lots of interesting patterns in the garden as the snow started to accumulate, here on the Buddleia, a far cry from its bright blooms attracting passing monarchs couple of months ago..

Every seedhead of the False Sunflowers was decorated with a small cap of white.

  

And the meadow out back had started its transformation from brown to white, developing a gentle frosty appearance..

I took this comparison shot two hours later, just as the light was starting to fade.  These two are actually taken from the upstairs window; the snow outlines the paths I mow.  But why does this second group of photos have a distinctly blue tone?  I think the light at this season just does strange things.

By this point the snow in the meadow was starting to look a lot more white, like this on the Goldenrods.  It's wet snow that's sticking to everything.

The snow always seems to show off the patterns of the branches in the old Apple trees.    

And the butterfly in our garden now looks white.  The heaviest snow is forecast overnight, and it may continue with renewed lake effect flurries for 2-3 days, so I may get some 'after' photos to show you the accumulation.  Hope you all enjoyed this unique opportunity to see the beauty of winter!

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It's the season for Christmas craft sales, so we headed for Priceville this morning and picked up some of our usual gifts - handmade mitts, Christmas ornaments, and this time some wooden toys.  Of course a county sale like this comes complete with the chance to have coffee and a muffin, or even lunch.  So I get to sit at a table enjoying my coffee and relax, while my wife visits her favourite vendors.  (And every now and then I'm sent out to the car with purchases, or to find more cash).  That's my kind of Christmas shopping!