Snow respite

Well, the snow finally seems to have slowed down enough for me to catch my breath. Freezing fog is supposed to be our treat for tomorrow. That should prove interesting! I grew up in Nova Scotia where freezing rain was often an alternative to the snow. I stayed put whenever that happened as the ground ended up as smooth as glass and acted like a skating rink. It was a recipe for a trip to casualty otherwise.

I have made one cautious trip out in the car and managed all right on the roads. I'm not keen on walking anywhere as the paths are dreadful, and most car parks are mid-calf deep in filthy slush. However, it does require a day by day assessment.

I'm not sure if my stitched scenes will make it up on the walls of the cafe in Saltwell Towers on Monday though. They are really blocked in so I'll just have to wait and see. If you are thinking of making a trip there to see my work, best check my blog again before you set out to make sure that my work is there.

Snow... snow... and yet more snow!

I thought I would do a quick post while having a well earned coffee break. It seems that my Canadian roots are determined to punish me for moving here as we've had snow fall off and on since last Wednesday evening. Last night brought the greatest amount yet to our place so I've already spent an hour helping my husband shovel so he could head off to the hospital where he works. And that was filled with high drama as it has even been thundering and lightning! He managed to narrowly miss the gate post as he slid out the drive but I have aged in the process! And still the snow falls...

our snow covered garden, 29 Nov., 2010

I was so hoping to finish the Hoopoe design in time for the exhibition at Saltwell Towers next month. Since the snow is determined to continue, I think the smart thing to do now is just resign myself to the fact that I'll be exhibiting only three items. Shovelling takes far too much energy but is a necessary evil seeing as my Hubby is an essential care worker. I haven't got the strength, or time now, to do everything so the decision is made. Meanwhile, I'd best get back out there so Hubby will have half a chance of parking the car again later on.

Snow Day

Despite the fact that I work from home, this has even become a snow day for me! Our drive was rapidly becoming impassable, and food was getting scarce, so I spent a large portion of the day shovelling. I nipped out for a grocery top up between snow showers so I think we'll see ourselves through the next few days of predicted snow showers. I'll have recovered enough by tomorrow to get on with my Gibside design then.

Meanwhile, I'm really enjoying the atmosphere that the snow creates. Our back garden looks beautiful, and has even been visited by a fox. It took off before I could get the camera ready but I am keeping an eye out for it in the meantime. I'm certainly not short of inspiration at the moment - just energy after several hours of hard labour on the end of a shovel.

This is the first real shovelling that I've had to do in over a decade. Having emigrated from Canada, I was more than happy to hang up my snow shovel. It sets the right atmosphere for Christmas and New Year but, to me, it feels a bit too much like work outside of that. The law over there insists on people clearing the walks and paths within a reasonable length of time. Trust me when I say that that gets rather irksome when you are shovelling after the third bad storm in the space of one week! The plow always managed to leave a 5 foot high by 5 foot deep snowbank composed of solid ice at the end of the drive after each pass too.

I was never keen to drive in the snow over there either, despite snow tyres and snowplows. And I'm even less keen to do so here because of the lack of them! So I'm quite content to stay put, take pictures of the snow in the garden, shovel at a sensible pace, and nip out for groceries when the road is clear enough to drive safely. I'll see about getting other snow pictures for new designs when the weather settles a bit more. Next time I'm out there, I might even make a snow angel...