Welcome to the Winter Solstice edition of the weekly smile! And today is even more special since Jupiter and Saturn will be aligning in the sky! I took some photos of Jupiter a few weeks ago and was able to clearly see the 4 Galilean moon (see below). I hope to get some photos tonight as well!
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Frigid winter day
A blizzard freezes my soul
Distant stares are harsh
An icy word from your mouth
Causes the tempest to rage
*
Written for Colleen’s Poetry challenge. Each week she gives us two keywords, only we must use synonyms only, not the words themselves. This week the key words were “Cold” and “Storm” This week I decided to try a tanka.
*
In ways these words were appropriate this week as we just had our first major storm of the season followed by our coldest day so far. I know, the first storm in late January in New Hampshire? Unheard of! But it has been a frigid winter! And don’t worry too much about my storm damaged heart – this is pure fiction :) Photo from a short hike on Saturday, before the storm.
The wind bites my face. I shuffle on, glancing up when the weather allows. A blanket of white is drowning the land. The calendar is playing tricks, mocking us with one blizzard after another while my Facebook shows me reminders of the flowers I saw on this day in the past. I know, I need a little self-control and wait it out. The lush plant life will return, recreating the landscape around me. A strong gust makes me duck my head again. I am not sure if I will preserver.
The world born again
Endurance over winter
Bloom to emerald
— —
This was written for Colleen’s Weekly Poetry Challenge. The key words today were “Patience” and “Green”. Following her suggestion, I didn’t use the words, I used only synonyms.
We are having our third Nor’easter in two weeks. This one will be the biggest, with well over a foot for snow. The weather forecast shows some of the coldest weather of the year coming later this week and another snow storm next week. Every day for the last week there have been pictures coming up on Facebook reminding me that by this time every other year we’ve had flowers. I want winter to be over!
Last Friday we had our first big snow of the year. Actually it wasn’t very big. We had several very warm days before the snow so it fell onto ground that wasn’t frozen. Then we had perhaps 5 inches (13 cm). It was warm on Saturday and Sunday so a lot of the snow went away. Oh well. But we may get another 5 inches today, so stay tuned for more snow pictures later.
Here is my back yard from a second floor balcony. This is from just a day before the storm. My back yard is almost vertical and you can see that the dogs playing have made it into a mud slide.
And here it is during the snow. Continue reading
The snow crunches
Beneath my boots
It squeaks and squeals
Grumbling with each step
The dry thin air
Turns white with wind
In seconds my face goes cold
My face hurts
My face is numb
The snow settles
The shrieking
Becomes a low whistle
I can again hear the snow
Complaining against my weight
I stop
Blocked by the barn
It is still
But I can hear the train-rush
Roaring through the trees
Across the valley
I start again for the house
The roar approaches
I shut the door
As snow swirls then settles
On the warm floor
Windows rattling
House shaking
I am home
Life brings many questions. In fact, you can say life is a quest to answer all of the questions, from the easy, day to day to the unanswerable. For as we age we find more and more of the big questions really are unanswerable. We’re left to ponder the imponderable. It is part of the mystery of life. Or, perhaps, the mystery of life, death, the universe and everything (Sorry Douglas Adams, I had to add one).
This year has been such a year for the really deep questions. In fact, I spent much of today pondering one of life’s unanswerable questions. A deep question full of ramifications. Oh, how I wished I needn’t have asked such a question, but I was facing a major decision. Continue reading
The air is gray and moving
Naught else
Dead wood
White ground
Faded
Soft
Still
Stopped
Static
Silent
Ssshhhhhh Continue reading
Life goes ever on
There is so much in our world
Don’t write about snow
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A major storm hit on Thursday, into Friday. We cleaned up and went to the Cape were there was no snow on the ground only to be hit by a blizzard on Saturday. Cleaned up down there Sunday morning and headed home. Once back I had to clean up again. We are currently getting 7 more inches of snow, 7 more inches of clean up. Continue reading
“I’ve seen worse.” John was looking through the swirling snow at the small cliff. This was the one chokepoint on the relatively easy climb. There was a path up that involved only a minimal amount of scrambling over rocks but it was currently covered in ice. The cliff must have been a waterfall during the recent thaw, the melt-water being directed by the cut of the trail.
John looked back. The ground was covered by a light dusting of white. The forecast called for three to six inches of light powdery snow. Not a major storm and still hours away. John decided to tackle the cliff. He’d seen worse. Continue reading
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