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January 18, 2005

Is It Over?

In three days it has warmed up here by 30 degrees. We had freezing rain here this afternoon, water dripping from the eaves, but icicles forming on railings and even the trees. I have been under the weather (pardon the pun) or I would have layered up to venture out once the rain stopped. With the snow more saturated with water, I bet it's finally sticky enough to make a snowman... or snow sheep. I wonder if a snow dog out on the front drive would keep the local mutts away from my front door at night - something's nocturnal explorations woke me up the past two nights.

Anyway, as Richard is away with the camera, and I'm not making dramatic progress on the renos given I'm barely upright at the moment, there's nothing new to post on the reno front, and I've no doubt Allyson isn't the only one sick of snow pictures. Am I, though?

Warming up means rain, which despite growing up in Vancouver I've never much liked. But in Vancouver this time of year, it's quite possible for the Japanese cherry trees to start blossoming, crocuses poke through the bare earth, and certainly my sister isn't the only one with tulips on her coffee table. Here, I still have holly around for colour, and the only flowers coming up are last year's forced bulbs in a little pot in the dining room. (Amazed I got them to come up again!)

As I said in my first Poplars & Pines posting, I love the change of seasons best, but with two feet of snow on the ground, it's a bit premature to be itching for Spring. This has been the best "snow fix" ever, and I look forward to more, as it's in the forecast to cool off again on Saturday. But I must admit those tulips at my sister's got me thinking. There's a cherry tree out front which I can see from my current office space, and I found myself wondering what it will look like next month... or will it not bloom until April? I have no idea when the winter ends here; earlier than east of the mountains, but not as early as the coast. One thing's for sure: Spring won't be as wet. And every bud and leaf in the yard is my own. It's an exciting prospect. So yes, it's only mid-January, but I'm looking forward Spring.

Posted by anita at January 18, 2005 4:42 PM

Comments

I would never get sick of photos of snow! Just the real thing. Snap away baby! It's not my ass that's freezing, or my water pipes that are iced up, or my driveway to shovel, or my car that needs snow tires, or my front walk to salt, or my roof that may collapse, or my street I can't see, or my door I can't open, or my front widows I can't see out of...

You get the picture, I'm sure.

Pictures are lovely. Really.

Really.

BTW, it's -30 in Ottawa right now; -41 with the windchill. Gimme rain anytime over that.

Posted by: Allyson | 18:41 19 January 2005

Not much to photograph now... it's just drip drip drip, and the occasional flash of white as a chunk of snow falls off the roof. I don't understand why they don't put eavestroughs on houses up here. It makes a sunny day like today look as if it were pouring down rain. But there's still snow on the ground, lovely and bright in the sunshine, if soggy. Don't like to think what that back yard around the barn is going to look like when it melts. Ugh!

I'm hoping I can get some painting done this week - I really want to be moved in to my new office by the end of the month. Wish me luck!

Posted by: Anita | 20:55 19 January 2005

Good god, my mother just sent me a link to CBC's report on the rain, and the mudslide in North Van, where a woman died when the slide tore her house off its foundations. First extreme cold, now torrential rains... Allyson, are you sure you still like the Wet Coast? I'm quite happy here with +2 and sunshine. Stay warm and dry, everyone.

Posted by: Anita | 21:08 19 January 2005

Of course the news is full of the landslide tragedy. There are going to be some serious lawsuits over that because apparently the city new the ground was unstable back in 1980 and some guy had an unapproved pond... It's terrible. There was also a landslide in Poco.

We have brought this on ourselves, really. We are building too many houses where they ought not be built, we are preventing the land from absorbing water by making too many roads. It's ridiculous. But, that's progress right?

Posted by: Allyson | 05:39 22 January 2005

BTW, they probably don't put eavestroughs on the houses because they can get snow in them and they'd get weighted down and break. No one had them in Rossland. Everyone did have, if they were smart, an aluminum roof so the snow could easily slide off. Do you have an aluminum roof?

Posted by: Allyson | 09:41 22 January 2005