After torturing me with well over two months of UN-RE-LENT-ING rain, the temperature finally dropped low enough for this to happen …
Our backyard – the bean pyramid, our newly enclosed patio, and falling snow
It’s not much, just a handful of centimeters, but there’s more in the forecast.
Will we, or nil we, the Seasons turn … The Summer Tree takes on new foliage and becomes the Winter Tree …
Wet snow drapes the windsock low
Prelude, the print version is now up and running!!! Herewith be it! … I’m not sure why the ebook and print editions have different pages, but the ways of the ‘Zon are not for mortals to decipher, nor are they for the fainthearted. It’s also available in the UK, Canada, etc too. Just type in the title, and subtitle (Prelude – the Gaining of Shamanic Wisdom) and away you go.
-oOo-
When last we hear from our intrepid SNOW!!!™ reporter she had discovered that snow really does form ‘snowflake’ shapes.
Alas, her joy was not to last.
The -20C gusty winds blew most of the fluffy snow away to parts unknown, and our sad SNOW!!!™ reporter was sad …
Sad Widder
Even the windsocks were sad
But, lo and behold, the very next day …
Happy windsocks
Our SNOW!!!™ reporter and her spouse shoveled the snow off their paths and driveway and then wandered down to the lake to see what had become of it …
Frozen and covered in snow
Our SNOW!!!™ reporter was last seen ambling up the road, looking for further snowy adventures.
Last seen heading north
-oOo-
During of the process of writing Prelude last year, I decided it was time I started Teaching again, and to that end I’ve set up another blog, called Widdershins, The Shaman. (original, I know) Apart from putting up information about Prelude, I haven’t really started posting anything, until now.
So if you’d like to have a squiz at my first official post, on the creation of the Wheel of the Year, herewith it be: Creating the Wheel of the Year. It even has a couple of hand-drawn colored diagrams, because what’s a Shaman-y post without a bit of color?
This week was our turn to have our very own arctic outflow. The temperature dropped from +10°C, to -10°C with a windchill of -18°C, in 24 hours. Gusts of wind added their own special flavour to the mix, and we engaged all our ‘lost power’ procedures … topped up the water dispensers, made sure the generator had enough gasoline, got a big pot of soup going in the slow cooker, that sort of thing.
Thankfully none of our measures were needed. (touch wood, because another cold and snow wave is immanent) Like most of North America, our electricity is in dire need of an upgrade, so it’s better to be prepare everything and not need them, than freeze!
Herewith be a bit of snow …
A light dusting
… that got a bit heavier and blew about all over the place. I tracked one poor little snowflake as it tried to get down to the ground at least three times.
I ducked out the front door and got this shot in between ginormous gusts of wind
By the time night fell the air was full of snow, blown about like dust …
The white streaks are the slower moving bits of snow
Mrs Widds and I valiantly braved the wild weather to shovel and salt our paths. Although there wasn’t much overall snow, I did my artistic duty and hastily swept a design into the driveway …
Smiley Face is looking a bit concerned
-oOo-
In other news, I finally managed to upload a print version Prelude onto KDP and order a proof copy that should arrive on our, chilly, doorstep sometime around the end of the month.
I’d put the whole process with KDP on a par with my Smashwords experience. Not overly complex, but hard work. Once I’d formatted my manuscript for a printed page, rather than a scrolling page (ebook) the rest was fairly straightforward.
So, as soon as I’ve perused the proof copy, all things being equal, it’ll be live on Amazon!
-oOo-
Now back to the snow …
As I was sweeping off the back stoop I came across the most amazing sight. Tiny star-shaped bits of snow. I dashed inside for my camera, (which I occasionally use as a phone) and tried my best to capture the wee things before they blew away.
This is the best shot …
Of all the red deck-chairs on the whole island, this little beauty fell into mine
And these lined up like a constellation in the night sky. The Mother (Nature) never wastes a pattern! …
Hello there, little stars
-oOo-
No-one sings about the cold like Annie Lennox …
I is being watching the snow go from this …
Snowing again
… to this
One last snow-shower
… to this …
That’s just sad
… Now, is mah job …
… to watch the rain fall
***
For the newcomers to my blog, (Welcome!) Coco the Community cat adopted us after Widdercat died a few year ago. Actually Coco wanted to adopt us the minute we moved in but Widdercat would have none of it. Two fluffy Grande Dames going at it hammer-and-tongs, fur a-flying, all hissy and spitty, is a sight to behold, but not to be repeated, so Coco was hugged and cuddled when we went for walks, but studiously ignored when we were at home.
After Widdercat , we decided our lives were too transient (and dealing with the home owners association politics as lowly renters too futile) to give another cat a forever home. (we intend to have gazillions of them when we next move to our forever home. It’s been Mrs Widds and my experience that our cat companions have always found us at the right time)
In the absence of fur-fights Coco decided that, as absurd as our decision was, she would respect it and invited herself into our lives for cuddles, pats, and ‘now let me out’ visits.
We’re not the only cat-orphans she’s adopted. The four houses at our end of the driveway are all blessed by her Most High Fluffyness.
So, my finest Winter, to date, (3 months of snow on the ground) is now done and we are back to our usual Spring, Autumn, and Winter, rainforest-y climate – rain.
It seems my ‘chitis likes it here on Widder Island. I’m on my third week of antibiotics and I feel crappy, and if La La Land wins Best Picture, I’ll feel even worse. It wasn’t … terrible … but come on people, if you’re going to have a film about people who sing and dance, hire actors who can sing and dance above a B-movie level.
***
We return you to our regularly scheduled snow report.
Going …
How the mighty have melted
Going …
Poor rosemary looks like a bunch of frozen twigs
Midnight at the Oasis …
Midnight last night … Yep … that’d be more snow! ( shot from the front door, cos there’s no way I’m going out there)
***
Remember this song?
It snowed for five days …
The second night
Our front yard looked like this …
30 centimeters of snow dug out three times
… and this …
Poor Rosemary is somewhere underneath all that
Neighbours pitched in to clear driveways, and cars, and a way out to the main road …
A posse of six women did most of this
But, the day before yesterday came the freezing rain …
The sound of cracking branches reverberated across the island
Ice, everywhere …
Our driveway marker. The top meter or so anyway
Then the inevitable happened. No electricity. Mrs Widds and I were prepared …
Kerosene heater – with supper in the pot on top – light and warmth
I love Winter!
We’ve had snow on the ground since early December. It looked something like this …
Our street in the middle of January
But then along came our usual rainy weather and it all started to melt …
I’m melting
(Looks like Rosemary survived fairly unscathed)
I felt like Winter was disappearing before my very eyes
I’m melting … I’m melting
But then … at 8am this morning …
I’m melt … whoopsie!!!
SNOW!!!!
Snow-mores!!!!
In other related news, I have a chitis in my broncs (bronchitis) and I can’t go out and play. There’s nothing sadder than a grownup who loves snow as much as I do …
