I woke up with a start this morning, looked at the clock, and jumped out of bed. I was sure, positive, that I was going to be late for work since I opened my eyes at exactly the time that I usually head out in the morning. I thought that I forgot to set my alarm.
It took me a minute to realize that it was Saturday, a day with no set time to rise, a day to relax. Ah...Wow, that was disconcerting. Does that ever happen to you?
It was white outside, a good day to work at home. White, snow, changing...
I took a mid-day break for a walk. A hawk was sitting high in a tree, surveying the world through quietly falling snow. I walked under his perch, walked a little further and turned to see him from the front. What a beautiful bird!
The snow fell on dry ground, and yet, it was slippery. It almost seemed as if there was a sheen of ice under that snow. On plowed surfaces, my footing was steady. On previously shoveled sidewalks wearing a coating of new snow? Slippery!
By the time I returned home, the soft snow had turned into some other form of frozen precipitation, sharp pellets hitting my face. And now? It's raining. Snow, accumulating snow, freezing rain, freezing fog, outright rain. Brrr...
Is it my fault? Did you paint the weather map a deep shade of blue because I washed the salt off of my car to let the bright blue color of my 4-wheeled transportation shine without a covering of dirty white? There must be a better reason than that for your current plans to dump (multiple) inches of snow on us on Wednesday. Is there a reason you can share with us?
I watched the National Weather Service paint the map in colors as the hours passed today. At first the western part of Massachusetts was painted deep blue. The forecast for the Boston area did call for snow, but there was no indication of the possible depth. That dark blue hue on the weather map edged closer to the coast, surrounding the Boston metropolitan area but not covering it. And then... I looked again, and that dark blue paint now covers almost the entire state. Yikes!
...the saga of the robins
Yes, I did know when I saw a flock of robins on Saturday that we are still in the depths of winter. And I do remember seeing robins at this time of year for the past several years. I was still puzzled, still thinking that these cheery birds fly south for the winter, and yet knowing that something in that premise really didn't work.
Many thanks to Bob for pointing me to an article in today's Boston Globe titled Roosting robins: Harbingers of spring?. It's an interesting read, pointing out that our New England robins are probably further south now, and that the cheerful visitors that I saw on Saturday may in fact be from somewhere north of here. Wherever they are from, their presence here on cold winter days must be a tribute to the hardiness of these beautiful creatures.
Robins always shout spring to me. On this cold and snowy January day as I was walking, looking around, listening... I saw my first robins of the year. They were hopping about, from shrub to snow, and back into the air. Chirping, hopping, bringing hopes of spring. (And yes, I have accepted the fact that winter will be with us for weeks yet. It was still good to see my first robins.)
Last week I decided it must be time for a quick escape from our northeast winter. I didn't need to think too long about where I was going.
Can you guess where I'm headed? Yes, of course, with my camera, and my silly red traveling companion (Rover) too!
My glimpse of Red Rock Canyon on the last day of my trip west to Death Valley was just enough to whet my appetite. I need to wander there on two feet, and I know that Red Rock Canyon deserves some serious camera play. It will just be a quick trip, a several day escape to the southwest. I'm counting the days until I leave, two weeks from now...
If you're curious about where I'll be wandering, here's a sample photo from my visit there in November 2008.
Hmmm... somehow a picnic doesn't seem like it would be a very good idea right now, does it? Hey - that's a lot of snow!
An early morning blue sky decorated a cold, cold morning. As I drove to work, I looked over a field covered in snow. White on the ground, a bright blue sky, and in the middle? There was a cloud of bright white fog hanging over the snow, a beautiful sight, a sight to remember.
