Snow on a Saturday

The Big Snow started here around noon today. It's been snowing off and on ever since, with winds out of the east, but it doesn't seem like we're getting nearly as much as they said we would. It's supposed to intensify later tonight, though, and the winds are to pick up, so who knows what we'll see when we look out the windows in the morning?

We took my Holter heart monitor back to the hospital and when we got back, things were looking really pretty with a light coating of snow. Before I went into the house, I walked around and took a few pictures, because I knew once I was inside, I wasn't going out again.

Luna accompanied me, and as I looked for subjects to photograph, I listened to first, the woodpecker rat-tat-tatting away in the neighbor's tree, then the wind blowing through the big pine that I carried home from Maine in my suitcase in 1979, and finally, the sound of the snow falling on the dried leaves still hanging on the trees. Yes, you could actually hear it hitting them and I think today was the first time I've ever noticed it.




Remember the pictures of the viola and the Scotch Heather that I posted earlier today for Garden Bloggers Bloom Day? They look a little different now...




Just about the only color in the gardens is a touch of gold here and there, like on this Variegated Euonymus...

... and the Campanula 'Dickson's Gold.'

Harry Lauder's Walking Stick (Corylus avellana 'Contorta') looks like an art sculpture with its twisty branches lightly covered by snow. This one is in the front of our house, and we've got a larger, taller one at the back.

The Japanese Honeysuckle that grows on the trellis near the house is covered in black berries that the birds pick at every now and then. This is considered to be invasive in some areas, including Ohio, but it's never been a problem here at the trellis, nor has it shown up elsewhere on the property. I'll occasionally see a seedling pop up around this one in the spring and summer, but that's easy enough to control by pulling them out.







I love how the hellebore leaves look with their little "snowcaps."

The heart-shaped epimediums, too.



The Dwarf Alberta Spruce (Picea glauca) traps the snow in its tiny needles and it always reminds me of a miniature version of the Christmas trees my dad and grandpa would flock before taking them in the house for us to decorate each year, back in the mid-'60s.

Kara and Adam and Jenna and Bella came to spend the night because we have a family Christmas tomorrow afternoon (if the weather doesn't make us cancel it). Adam and Romie watched football while Kara and Jenna goofed off, as usual. It's fun for me to watch them act like they did when they were little, even though they're 27 and 25 now.

Just what were they doing in this picture? Seeing how many Cheesy Puffs they could stuff into their mouths at one time. I think one of them said they had nine. I'm not even going to guess which of them has the biggest mouth. They both have claimed that title at one time or another!

Kara wanted to bake cut-out cookies, so she enlisted the help of her sister. Jenna said she absolutely hates to cook (wonder where she gets that?), and in spite of Kara explaining that baking isn't cooking, the best she could do was to get Jenna to clean up the kitchen after the cookies were done. That was fine with Jenna, because she does love to clean.

Kara let us taste test the cookies and they were both pretty and scrumptious!

Everyone has gone to bed now. I can hear that the wind has kicked it up a couple notches and as it comes around the corner of the house, it sounds much like the train whistles in the distance that we hear on summer nights when we sleep with the windows open. The snow is pelting against the east windows as well as the skylights above me. The giant wind chimes are ringing a church-bell melody under the pergola.

Time for me to go to bed, too.