Tag Archives: The Winter Tree

There’s Snow Business Like Snow Business

Everybody sing it with me now, and do your best impersonation of a drag-queen, or king, doing an impersonation of Ethel Merman singing, ‘There’s no business like show business’ …

… what’s that you say, you don’t know who Ethel Merman is?

Well, this is Ethel …

 

I don’t think there’s an entertainer in the world today who could belt out a showtune quite like she could.

-oOo-

I’ve temporarily retired the ‘The Wunder-Lusters’ category, (over there on the right of my blog) because we’re not doing anything remotely wunder-lustery at the moment … which isn’t to say we aren’t having adventures. No, certainly not … and, I’ve started a new category, here and, on The Wunder-Lusters Youtube channel, called ‘The Prince Georgian Chronicles’, which will, as the name implies, chronicle our adventures here in Prince George.

First and foremost, as you’ve probably gathered from the title of this post, I’m going to talk about snow. What a surprise, eh?

And after that, well, who knows where this new adventure will take us …

In response to a request for more ‘snow-on-trees’. Here’s a photo, and an epic wee video …

I’m pretty sure there’s a snow-dragon somewhere in this picture

I’m pretty sure there’s a snow-dragon somewhere in this picture

The last time we saw this beauty she was still in her Autumn robes. Looks like she’s wrapping up her Season with a bang …

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That Was Winter

Whirlwinds of ice crystals racing each other along the snow-covered road…

Long and snowy road

Long and snowy road

Shoveling the driveway clear and salting the footpath. Crisp whiteness, icicle cold air to breathe …

Wintertree - up to her knees in the white stuff

Wintertree – up to her knees in the white stuff

A halcyon time, seven days long …

Widderlake - frozen over

Widderlake – frozen over

… and now?

… it’s raining … again.

NO SNOW!!! … and Other Things

This is what the Winter Tree looked like on Christmas Day 2016

SNOW!!!

SNOW!!!

This is what my friend looked like this Christmas Day just gone.

That bit of blue sky was the last to be seen

That bit of blue sky was the last to be seen

To quote Voldemort, “I consider myself, disappointed”.

Just a few kilometers away, (and a few hundred meters of elevation) there’s snow everywhere. It’s several meters high, blocking highways, doing avalanches, and everything. Down here on the river valley floor all we’ve had is rain …lots of rain … floods of rain …way, way too much … rain.

To make matters worse, I’ve been nastily ill since my last post, which resulted in all sorts of bodily functions going haywire, along with a migraine cluster that still sends shivers down my spine when I think about it.

So, all-in-all, not the most auspicious Festive Season.

However … remember ‘Prelude’, the true tales of my Shamaning? Mrs Widds and I are putting it through its very final line edit this weekend, then off to Smashwords and the Zon it goes to become an ebook. Soon followed thereafter by a print version.

It’s been quite a journey, spending most of 2018 reliving a time in my life thirty years past.

I’ll keep you updated as to how it’s all going.

There’s still time for some snow to fall before winter’s over … isn’t there?

The Winter Tree

It’s been a long 6 months since I took this picture of our Tree.

An unusually clear day in our Summer of Smoke

The heat, and the smoke, and my ‘chitis, lingered long into Autumn.

But the leaves did eventually start to turn

Winter’s first chill put a halo of frost around the fallen leaves.

Brrrr, that’s brisk

Then, this being the Fraser Valley, it rained, and rained, and rained.

After the summer we had I wasn’t about to complain

We put up some Christmas decorations …

If you look close you can see real fairies with their wee lanterns lighting up the glitter. 🙂

… and had ourselves a merry little (white) Christmas.

My little cellphone even managed to capture the white stuff as it fell

Coco the Community Cat came to visit and admire the view.

Of course I’m not going to look into that strange thing you’re shoving in my face. It could steal my soul … and then you’d be sorry!

Two days later the snow turned to ice. 5 cm (2″) on the first day!

I probably shouldn’t’ve budded this early

Trees bowed and broke under the weight. Power lines were knocked out. We knew it was coming, there’d been enough warnings from the weather bureau. Our 72 hour emergency plan stood us in good stead, but we were stretched to the limit at the end. Now we have a 144 hour (6 day) emergency supply of fuels, (gasoline, kerosene, propane) and storage and purification capacity for 120 liters (31 gallons) of water.

The staccato sounds of falling trees snapped through the crystal air without cease.

Bending under the weight

What was beautiful and soft turned into dangerous and beautiful.

The sun came out and we sent out to see what we could see

A neighbour’s maple trees became a curtain of ice

Ice everywhere, over everything

A wire fence became an instant icicle factory

Down by the lake Grandmother Willow had succumbed to the weight on her ancient branches

The hedge across the way became a frozen waterfall

We sat in our little house, snug and warm, and read, and passed the time disconnected from the rest of the world, but at peace with it as well.

The next morning we pulled up the blinds on our study window and saw what had become of our Winter Tree

Two major branches, gone. Frozen to the ground, waiting for the thaw

Coco came to commiserate

As did a deer, who must’ve come across the lake after it froze

In spite of all the damage across our island and indeed the entire region, we held no animosity, perhaps a little sorrow, but in the face of such a beautiful blue sky, it didn’t last.

Winter on Widder Island