Pre-Christmas Surprises

I woke up a few mornings ago to snow and this animated holiday card sent by a friend:

You can see what I saw by clicking on the phrase holiday card.

It’s a sweet way to begin the day—especially if you’re fond of animals or you pine for London. Happy viewing!

[Art by Jacquie Lawson.]

It’s Too Darn Hot

If you live where the temperature is sizzling, you could probably use some relief. Here’s a diversion to help you cool off: snow scenes.

Thanks to the authors of Gifts of the Crow: How Perception, Emotion, and Thought Allow Smart Birds to Behave Like Humans, I learned that crows and ravens enjoy playing in snow. This first raven was caught on film for a PBS “Nature” special. (Warning: The first 14 seconds are titles and a gruesome wildlife dinner; start the video at :15 if you need to skip directly to the raven.)

For a different view of a Corvid at play, check out this amateur video of a crow sledding on a rooftop—with his/her own makeshift sled!

Pretty clever birds, don’t you think? I guess only people have birdbrains.

Seasonal Surprises, Seasonal Dividends

now visited us today for the first time. Fleetingly. It left before I had time to get excited about it.

I wonder if the rain, which has pelted us nonstop for days, was as tired of itself as we were of it and decided to try a new look.

Or perhaps the snowflakes, confused by the glut of Christmas decorations displayed since October, raced here today for what they thought was a late entrance. Realizing their mistake after materializing, they disappeared.

Either way, I’m happy to be sans precipitation this afternoon. I’m grateful for this lovely long Autumn of the Bluegrass—for being able to dress in layers rather than hauling out the thick woolens, for being comfortable enough to sit in the yard enjoying a book and hot tea, for the slow departure of color giving way to a splendor of texture in the form of nuts, berries, and seed pods.

“Good heavens, of what uncostly material is our earthly happiness composed—if we only knew it! What incomes have we not had from a flower, and how unfailing are the dividends of the seasons!”
—James Russell Lowell

[S from Industry.]

Testing, Testing

This is a test. This is only a test. Really. Different computer, different hardware, different software, different fonts, same blogger. Just experimenting with the graphics quality, which so far has failed to impress me. But I’ll have to get used to it or explore some workarounds.

Happy December 1, by the way. Appropriately, it snowed here today.

[Pic from CaveRun.org.]

The First Snow

“To be interested in the changing seasons is a happier state of mind
than to be hopelessly in love with spring.”
—George Santayana

Thanksgiving Day brought near 70-degree temperatures to us in the Horse Capital of the World, then rain. All day…rain.

But last night, the rain turned white: snow. There’s something about a first snow that sticks in my mind and heart and tickles the old joie de vivre.

Wilson Bentley delighted in the white stuff as well. He was the first (in 1885) to microphotograph snowflakes—more than 5,000 over the course of his life (1865–1931) and no two alike. “Under the microscope,” he said, “I found that snowflakes were miracles of beauty; and it seemed a shame that this beauty should not be seen and appreciated by others. Every crystal was a masterpiece of design and no one design was ever repeated. When a snowflake melted, that design was forever lost. Just that much beauty was gone, without leaving any record behind.”

[Pic by KyScarlett.]

Portent of Winter

Wednesday night brought the first snowfall to my neighborhood. It didn't last long—turned to rain after its initial showy presentation.

As much as I dread the coming months of fierce winds, icy sidewalks, and movement-impeding layers of clothing, the first snow of the season is magical to me. It deserves my reverence . . . celebration. I hope I'll always feel this way.

"When I no longer thrill to the first snow
of the season,
I'll know I'm growing old."
—Lady Bird Johnson