Snowed In, On, Over and Under (Yet is Still Snows On)

The snow is falling like craaaaaaazy outside, and has been since 5am. I know in lots of places it has already come and stayed, but here in central Alberta it only teased one minute and then melted the next - until now! When I got up this morning at 6 there was a bit of a dusting on the ground and the snowflakes were drifting slowly and dreamily to the ground. I didn't really even wrinkle my nose at it come to think of it, I was kinda happy that I wasn't going to have to scrape my windows of a thick layer of frost!

After the slow drive into work (being grateful that I live only 4km away!) I watched our 'garden gang' shovel off the walks outside my office window. 3 hours later the groundskeeper was around with his little tractor-sweeper to do it all again because you couldn't tell it'd ever been done! And now, about an hour and a half after that, no evidence of shovelling remains, and there is roughly 3 1/2 inches of snow over the paths twice cleared. The parking lots are a mess, and the interns are begging to be allowed to leave an hour early because they're afraid of what the drive on the highway will be like.... sheesh... kids!! Oh, look! Another shoveller has emerged, covered head to toe (including some really awful sunglasses) to uncover the drop-off spot again for the wheelchair vans... god bless'em. all of our shovel-masters!!

Depending on when I look up from my desk the sizes of flakes and the speed and direction they are falling changes. So far I have seen them tiny and round falling in a thick blanket straight down in a hurry, big, fat, and mis-shapen lazily drifting down, and somewhere in the middle falling at various speeds depending on which side of the building I look out!

On my lunchbreak I couldn't resist the call of the unspoiled paths, so ignoring the odd looks from some of the people I work with I pulled on my boots and trudged out to the garden to take some shots of the snow and the trees. There's something really pretty about the first real snowfall that I just can't make myself appreciate as the season wears on (and on, and on, and on, and on...).

So anyway, here are some pictures of the prettiness of it all - I won't admit to liking winter, but the snow is sure beautiful for the first while! If I can figure out video upload (I think I can do that here?) I'll add one of the big fat flakes outside my window, because I really think it's the best part!

A blissful dreamy day to you... S.

I love the way you can see the underside of the brances and berries so nicely in early winter, before the snow-melt-freeze cycle begins, layering everything in that thick pack of ice.