Snowing, snowing, snowing. Yesterday morning it was six degrees when we got up ... sweeeet!
I shot the photo of our barn from one of my bedroom windows. This photograph makes me feel as if I were flying when I took it. You know, like in one of those flying dreams. Sometimes I have flying dreams where I can just sort of fly straight up into the air and hover. This photograph is just what that would be like.
The snow that began gathering about a week and a half ago is still here, and more is sifting down from the sky as I type. Last Sunday morning I was responding by email to comments people left on one of my blogs and as I typed I saw something larger than normal fall past the window. It was snowing lightly at the time, but something caught my eye. I kept typing, and a few more large objects went by the window. So I stopped to watch and see if I could catch sight of whatever it was. There were clumpy snowflakes falling here and there that looked more like small snowballs rather than snowflakes ... and of course they were balls of snow. Soon they were falling rapidly. Being heavier than single snowflakes they fell straight down. It was very unusual and almost humorous to see, as if some giant were up there dropping them down, hoping to hit something interesting like an unsuspecting human or the like.
As it continued to snow and I continued to answer emails, horse-drawn Amish carriages began going by, on their way to their church services. There are quite a few Amish families living in our area, and every Sunday morning before we leave for church several Amish carriages go by. It is a quaint and charming sight, and one of the things I cherish about life here. I long to photograph them, but I withhold myself because I don't want to intrude or treat them like an oddity. I hope they feel a sense of brotherly love as they go by our place, because it is here.
In the winter their carriages are closed up tight, and you don't see the people at all. Their horses are elegant and lean, beautifully dignified creatures. In the morning their gait is slow, as they are pulling the carriages uphill; one horse to a carriage. In the afternoon, however, as they go back home on a downward slope, they go prancing by, swift and full of energy.
In the spring and summer months they use open carriages, and I get to see the families as they go by. The boys and men wear straw hats and colorful shirts with blank pants and jackets. The women and girls wear bright and colorful dresses and aprons and pretty bonnets. The women are usually holding a baby in their arms, the children sometimes get to hang their legs off the back.
Last week one afternoon when my husband came home from work we went on a drive to capture what moments we could on camera, when the snow was still fresh and clean. Not far down the road from our place I asked him to stop the car when I saw a group of cows standing all together on a small rise. Though snow covered the ground thick everywhere else, under the cows green grass was still visible. One lone cow stood off to the side ... I had to wonder why. They were a bit curious as I stood by the road photographing them; I may have been the only interesting thing that had happened to them all day long.
Further along, we found a horse grazing by a fence near the road. I photographed him from the car. At first he was shy, keeping his head behind a fence post. I blew him kisses and told him I thought he was very pretty, and then he put his head out front and gave me a nice pose. He stood there patiently, allowing me to snap several shots of him ... and I do think he's pretty.
Before returning home we stopped by our friend Dorothy's house to check in on her husband; he had surgery last week and we wanted to pay them a personal visit. As we were leaving, they asked us to stop off in their barn and grab a bucket of apples to take home ... which we did with gratitude. The people next to them had worked up some snowmen in their yard, and I found their poses and positioning to be very interesting.
I finished knitting my son's scarf. I need to block it a bit and get it in the mail to him right away. He is going up to the mountains soon and the scarf will be needed there. I am also knitting up a blanket for his new puppy with leftover Lion's brand Suede yarn from the nap blanket I made for my mother-in-law for Christmas. It will be a quick project because it will only be about two feet square. Photos and patterns for both the scarf and the puppy blanket will be available on my next blog.
I need to go heat up my tea and tend to some other matters. Hope you are enjoying whatever weather you have, and that you are sipping a nice cup of tea or coffee as you read.
Best to you and yours,
firefly
Copyright © 2006 J.L. Fleckenstein ALL RIGHTS RESERVED