Friday 3 December 2010

Snow Morning

On Wednesday night, the snow came. Day after freezing day had hardened the ground, turned water into ice and chilled us to the bone with raw winds from the north and east.

Thursday morning, and the world was utterly still. Thick snow lay on every surface and for birds and animals outside, there was nothing to eat. Out into the whiteness I trudged, pushing a wheelbarrow of hay across stiff, unyielding snow to feed ponies waiting in their fields. They stood quite still and seemed almost stunned by the cold.

Around the garden, snow layered leaf, seed head , fruit and branch.


Tender leaves of a Japanese acer brave the snow.


The solar panels were taking a holiday.


Shapes and structures : snow covered palm,


twisted stems of Tortured Willow,

Camelia leaves,

bright berries of the Ballerina Rose


and Bay branches droop, weighed down by a blanket of white.




Sweeping branches frame the fields and hedgerow trees.


Through the Lime Tree........


....and hedgerow hawthorns spike against grey skies.


Woody finishes his breakfast.......

He is glad of a fleecy under-rug as icicles hang from his outer blanket.




Th roof net on the fruit cage makes a hammock for the snow.......


Water troughs, where ice needs breaking with a metal mallet to find the water underneath.



The Liquid Amber with a coat of snow..........


...and we watch the brittle branches, wondering if they will snap beneath an unaccustomed weight of winter snow.


5 comments:

Bovey Belle said...

You had a heavier fall than ours, which was washed away by heavy rain last night, so now everywhere is a sheet of ice :(

I hope you are managing and haven't run out of bird food yet!

bellaboo said...

Your snow pictures are beautiful.Feel for all the animals in this weather,large and small.I keep topping up the bird feeders.
Our snow has melted as the temperature rose last night and we had some rain.Still very icy though! :0)

Kath said...

Goodness, I can hardly believe it, we dont have even a sprinkle here today and the temperature is a tropical 4'C LOL
I agree, ordinary things can look more beautiful and sometimes quite intriquing when snow covered.

WOL said...

The poor ponies! Will their owners feed them?
You're really in a winter wonderland there. Pretty pix.

WOL said...

Oh, BTW, how about one of those rubber squeegees on a long pole to clean off your solar panel?

http://www.amazon.com/Ettore-Products-01639-Floor-Squeegee/dp/B000RXC85K/ref=sr_1_cc_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1291594230&sr=1-3-catcorr

I suppose a push broom would work too.