Ice-coated Winter Wonderland

What I saw out of my bedroom windows this morning immediately made me think of the term "winter wonderland". Why's that? Well, what I beheld made me wonder: Can winter get any prettier than this?

Two days ago it rained//sleeted and the temperature got above freezing. Yesterday, in the morning it warmed up a tad and rained a little bit, and then towards evening the temperature got colder and it snowed some. Today, the sky is cloudless, and the icy coating on all the trees makes them sparkle like diamonds when the sun shines on them. When the wind blows on the trees the ice crackles on the branches! Here are a few photos.

 

 

Mom's artificial flowers remind me of all the color that I hope to see outside soon...

Can you tell I'm already looking forward to spring? :-)

Ice is nice, and it makes everything outside look very pretty, but I am looking forward to the kind of weather where I don't have to put on ice grippers on my boots when go out. Mud season will be here before y'know it. :-)

I think our cats are also looking forward to the warmer weather...

...especially the temperatures where the water is liquid again!

Sorry it's been so long since my last post! Not many new things have been happening at Green Gambrels during the last month. I've started getting into running (more like jogging right now!), and icy roads are not very conducive for that. Oh well. Over the last year or so I've working on getting in shape, reforming my eating habits and learning more about fitness and healthy food. There are foods that I eat now that I hadn't even heard of a year ago, or if I had heard of them I thought they were "weird". But as I learn more, I'm amazed to see how God made so many different kinds of foods that are incredibly beneficial to the health of the body. Anyways, maybe in a future post I'll write more about my favorite "weird" foods. :-)

I've been involved with several Bible studies that we have going on during the week. On Tuesday night I attend a young peoples' Bible study hosted by a friend of ours from church. We've been  studying the book of John, and it's refreshing to go through it again and see different facets of the same gems that have been in there all along. On Wednesdays I and a few other church friends go to a nursing home and visit the folks there. We sing, have a Bible lesson and sometime I do some fiddling for them, too. On Friday nights we have a Bible study there as well, and more and more people are interested in coming to hear the Bible read and the gospel preached. It's really exciting! We also have a Bible study at another friend's house on Sunday nights. We've been studying Romans. With every study I feel like I'm understanding a little bit more of God's grace, wisdom, power and plan, and more of my own position as a believer in Jesus Christ as my own personal savior from my sins. On Wednesday afternoons, after the nursing home visiting time I'm involved in study of the book of Revelation with my Mom and two other ladies. It's quite an interesting book, with lots of things in it that I don't understand! However, there are things that I can take away from it that are practical lessons/reminders for everyday life. For example, in chapter 22 Christ reminds us that He is coming quickly! I'm really looking forward to that day. The beauty that I see in the ice on the trees in winter time will be nothing compared to His glory!

Snow 2010

Here are some photos at last! As you can see, we got some snow recently. I'd say it's about 6-10 inches deep (it's a little hard to tell with the drifts!). It's quite possible that we won't see the ground again until April... :-)

It's like a clear canvas...

The riding ring (just wait till the snow is up to the top of the fence! :-)

The barn

Snow clouds!

The driveway (and some snowy trees, too)

A self-portrait of what kinda looks like a snowman...

Eppie and Ollie followed me around outside as I got all of these photos. They love romping in the snow!

Eppie, right before she pounced on the camera. :-)

Tucker had his romp, but he was more interested in staying warm and cozy in the barn loft.

I hope you enjoyed these photos. It was really chilly and windy outside when I took them. In fact, it snowed again a little bit shortly after I went inside. 

Weatherbug isn't predicting any more snow (or rain) until Saturday, so I guess we'll get to enjoy the snow for a few days. :-)

And He Did It!

It's been a little while since I've updated my blog, hasn't it! One of the main reasons I haven't had many blog posts lately is because I don't have my camera anymore (I sold it to a friend who is using it quite a bit more than I did!). Very soon I will be posting photos of the snow that we got today (we got around 8 inches). It's about time we got a real snowfall up here! 

So, without further procrastination, here is another blog post. Oh, and speaking of procrastination... here is a poem to make this update a little more interesting. ;-)

And He Did It!

Somebody said that it couldn’t be done,
But he with a chuckle replied
That “maybe it couldn’t” but he would be one
Who couldn’t say no till he’d tried.
So he buckled right in with the trace of a grin
On his face. If he worried he hid it.
He started to sing and he tackled the thing
That couldn’t be done, and he did it.

Somebody scoffed: “Oh, you’ll never do that;
At least no one has ever done it”;
But he took off his coat and he took off his hat,
And the first thing we knew he’d begun it.
With a lift of his chin and a bit of a grin,
Without any doubting or quitting,
He started to sing and he tackled the thing
That couldn’t be done, and he did it.

There are thousands to tell you it cannot be done,
There are thousands to prophesy failure;
There are thousands to point out to you, you by one,
The dangers that wait to assail you.
But just buckle in with a bit of a grin,
Just take off your coat and go to it;
Just start to sing as you tackle the thing
That “cannot be done”, and you’ll do it.

Edgar A. Guest

Sledding!

Today I went sledding for the first time this winter! It was a lot of fun. I went with my sister and some friends of ours on a looooong hill in town. On of the things we like to do when we go sledding is to make trains, where we line up the sleds, either side by side or front to back. Our goal is to make it all the way to the bottom without breaking up... it's not often that we actually meet that goal! :-)

The snow was powdery, so we had to pack it down a bit to make good sled paths. It was actually snowing some while we were sledding!

We're supposed to get 4 to 8 inches of snow tonight, and 12-16 inches tomorrow! I guess a lot of snow plowing/shoveling will be in order pretty soon. :-)

Oh, here's a picture that my Dad spotted and I took a couple nights ago. :-) The flash went off (by accident) and it ended up coming out pretty good... not quite what I wanted but I still like it.

Snow! Almost...

Up here in Maine the seasons tend to turn pretty fast. The longest season around here seems to be... you guessed it! Winter!

Today we got some snow. I'd say it's about an inch or more. There's more in the forecast for tomorrow, but the forecast also says that it'll be sunny on Friday. But anyways, even though it is still Fall, the air definitely has a winter chill to it. Time to turn on the heat and the gas stove! That's as good as we can do for now until we get a wood stove... or rather, a metal stove that burns wood... :-)

Just to in case you've never seen a Maine winter, or have forgotten what snow looks like, here are some pictures from this past winter.

Yes, it is a regular sized fence! ;-)

That's what I call a real snow shovel!

After the ice storm