A Ray of Beauty

I have had a difficult week due in large part to the snowstorm. We have received 35 inches of snow here in Central New York State since Wednesday. The Valentine's Day storm was due to a nor'easter that came up from the southern states. The rest of the snow on Friday was courtesy of the Lake Ontario snow machine.

So, I spent a lot of time digging through the snow. I have my driveway plowed, but the steps and sidewalks still need to be cleared. Now, there is now where to put the snow. I have a snow mountain in my front yard and I am waiting for an avalanche!

Driving is such an adventure, too. I am only 5 feet tall and there is no way that I can see around the corners due to the gigantic snow banks. The streets are so narrow now due to the snow banks, so some streets are one way now. And, it took a long time to get the snow cleared from the streets.

The good news is that the sun made an appearance today and the temperature was 32 degrees F (0 degrees C). This helped to melt a little bit of the snow and ice. The roads were clear for the first time in days (but the snow banks remain.)

I ventured out to the local stores today. (Of course, all of the stores were very busy because other people were out and about, too.) I wanted to purchase some flowers so that I could take some photos this afternoon, but I didn't have a great selection from which to choose from at the floral shop. The selection was limited because Valentine's Day was this week and because the shop wasn't restocked due to the snowstorm. So, I ended up with a small pot of tulips.

Fortunately, I had enough natural light to work with this afternoon. I used some blue fabric for the background because I liked the contrast with the tulip colors. The aperture was set at f25 this time. I tried experimenting with the composition, too.

It was wonderful to see these gorgeous tulips when all I see are mountains of snow outside of my window. Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, "Flowers... are a proud assertion that a ray of beauty outvalues all the utilities of the world." And indeed, these beauties made me forget about shovels, snow banks, and lake effect snow.

Snowstorm!

A little light, fluffy snow can look so pretty across the winter landscape. Two feet of snow, on the other hand, is just too much! I live in Central New York State and we got hammered with two feet of snow. The snow started to fall on Tuesday night around nine and never stopped until last night at 10pm. You can see the results by viewing the photo to the right. (Please excuse the lack of quality of this photo. It is very difficult to take a photo while standing in a snow bank with the wind howling.)

Why did this area get so much snow? The storm is called a Nor'ester. Moisture from our southern states comes up along the Atlantic coast and brings impressive snow fall totals with it. (Luckily, these storms only occur about one time per winter season.)

Schools and businesses were closed yesterday (and some where still closed today.) It was very difficult for the snow plowing crews to keep up with the snow, so the public was told to stay off of the roads last night.

Now, I have lived in this area all of my life, so I am used to our snowy winters. However, the two feet of freshly fallen snow fell on top of the 15 inches that we received last week. There is just no place to put the snow!

I just over 5 feet tall, so the snow banks look gigantic to me. I had to sit on the phone book in the car this afternoon just so I could see around the snow banks while I was driving.

I am feeling a bit discouraged. I have spent so much time shoveling and digging the car out of the driveway that there hasn't been much time for anything else. I feel like I am living in the pioneer days instead of the 21 century.

So, I am longing for brighter days of spring. It may take until June for all of this snow to finally melt, but I can still have hope.

I hope that everyone is doing well. I am a bit behind in leaving blog messages, but I will get caught up soon. Now I am off to take some aspirin because my whole body hurts from shoveling snow.