winter weather

Expecting Ice

/ Katie / 6 Comments

Well, here we are again, expecting winter weather – not just snow, also ice. Hopefully not as much as last time, but we’ll see.

We are supposed to get a couple of inches of snow, so I’m excited for that, at least.

I’ll be recording a podcast episode this afternoon, so I hope I get to watch it snow while I chat with my friend and we create something good. That would be nice. But again, we’ll see. (And if you want to listen to the podcast, here’s a link to it on Spotify: Better Friendships on Spotify.)

Anyway, here are a couple of things I wrote thinking about the incoming storm.

While lying in bed last night, unable to sleep, anxious about the weather:

We’re expecting ice again today.

Please just make it go away.

Not a winter wonderland,

not fun, like playing in the sand.

Just slick and heavy and dangerous.

I really hope it misses us.

And something a little more thoughtful, after my first cup of coffee:

A beautiful danger

makes slow and steady progress –

tree limbs press down and strain

against the weight of it,

as if the whole world could break.

This glistening villain,

freezing fingers and frigid breath,

holds a glinting blade behind its back

and betrays all who love the cold.

I love winter, but these ice storms are killing me. I’m still holding out hope that before the end of the season, we’ll see some snow. Fingers crossed!

Found Friday #16: A Very 2020 First Snow

/ Katie / 11 Comments

I don’t think anyone expected a winter storm to hit Virginia in December. It’s certainly not an impossibility in any given year, but we normally have to wait a little longer into the season to see any real wintry weather.

It’s been a year full of surprises, hasn’t it?

Wednesday started off snowy, and it was so lovely. My husband got a fire going – the first of the cold season.

It snowed until about 3:00 p.m. – big flakes and small flakes, heavy showers and light. It was beautiful. Really, really wonderful. I’d say we got about four inches.

I love snow. You know what I don’t love?

Ice.

You see it, right? See, after about 3:00 p.m., the weather turned, and my quiet, gentle snow showers turned into evil, spiky little ice crystals. And they worked fast. Like, scary ice storm kind of fast.

The thing about ice – one of many reasons that I don’t like it – is that it’s heavy. And when you live in the country, on a property with lots of trees, heavy ice can be a real danger.

Case in point: We had to call the fire department because the limbs of our birch tree were so laden with ice that they ended up resting on the power lines, and started to spark and flame up, and kept at it all night. It was terrifying, and we’re expecting a visit from the power company to do some serious trimming.

So, I spent an anxious evening and a largely sleepless night worrying about a fire near the power lines, and listening to ice ping against the windows and the metal roof.

But I have to say, it sure did look beautiful by the morning. Almost pretty enough to forget how much I hate ice.

I mean, come on, it doesn’t get more Christmas-y than red berries in the ice and snow.

And the willow looked like something out of a fairy tale.

This wasn’t the first snow I was expecting. But this is 2020, so this was the first snow that I got. We’ll see what else this winter has in store for us. I, for one, am hoping for NO MORE ICE. But always for snow.