My body doesn’t like the cold, but my eyes love the beauty of ice and snow.
Morning icicles hanging from the gutters
The icicles hung three layers deep from the gutters this morning. The snow was drifted four feet high against the back door. The little plow attached to the front of our mower/tractor started right up but couldn’t push against the heavy, wet snow wall that revealed itself when I opened the garage door. The snow blower wouldn’t stay running. That left only the shovel and my two arms. Tom has been on a business trip for four days. I had no choice but to shovel. If I delayed, the snow would get heavier. I began at the road where the plow had piled it high at the end of the driveway, packed and heavy.
Several hours later I had shoveled eighty feet of the driveway to where it widens and turns the corner to the garage. My back was giving out and I felt pretty miserable in spite of the brilliant sun that caused the ice and snow to sparkle everywhere around me.
Ahhhh! The sound of my neighbor’s front end loader at the end of my driveway! Bob turned his tractor into my drive and plowed out the rest of the drive, saving me about two hours of shoveling! Hooray for friendly neighbors!
I was left with about half an hour of pile clean up which I did with a smile and a happy heart.
I never thought to wear sunglasses. When I returned to the house it appeared that all the windows were covered with red filters. Very bizarre. It must have been mild snow blindness. Hmmmmm. I’ll have to research that to find out why the green and blue waves were filtered out. The illusion of wearing rose-tinted glasses lasted about 5 minutes.
As I shoveled this morning, my thoughts rambled back to the 70’s when I focused a great deal of my energy on rock climbing. During the winter, as much as I dislike the cold, I packed my crampons, super guides and tent and climbed Mount Washington in the White Mountains of New Hampshire just see the blue ice up close. It was worth it.
Simple ink drawing with fountain pen followed by watercolor wash.
Third Time Around 
January 28, 2011 at 8:43 am
This winter I have become the Snowblower Queen and we’ve had SOOOO much snow. But we’ve been lucky in a way…it has all been dry, light snow which is easy to move and doesn’t stick together. And I also say Thank Goodness for Neighbors! Our helped with grass mowing when Ken had a torn rotator cuff.
January 27, 2011 at 11:16 pm
Yes, indeed, I even had to use a shovel today! Needed to get out
and had to get the snow off the Jeep! Not so easy!
The icicles remind me of those all the way around my house .
I do hear them dripping now into the evening. You really should be careful about your hip and back. Don’t undo all those weeks of therapy!
January 27, 2011 at 10:55 pm
I hear you! I have had those shoveling days, also, when it never seems to end. Just when you don’t think you can do another thing, the neighbor appears. Mine usually meets me at the end of the drive and helps with sidewalk and plow mess. Love the rosey-blue icicles. Take care of that hip….