Pretty, isn’t it?

It’s been snowing lightly since before dawn – and it’s slippery out there!

Look how gray the sky is!

But for a few glorious minutes just before noon, the sun burst out from the clouds at the back of the house and made everything glow. You can see the shadow of the roof peak in the bottom right.

I’m so glad I captured this moment – have a wonderful weekend!

I know I’m a day late but I do have an explanation.

Heavy rain started here in Nova Scotia about midnight Thursday and continued on until supper time Friday. In all, about 56 mm (just over 2 inches) came down in that time period. I took this photo Friday morning from my office window, thinking that the rain was benefiting the view: making the sere colours of November deepen and glow.

We had a dinner reservation with some friends in Halifax (about a two hour drive) and were amazed to see the water on the way: ditches running white water rapids, streams flowing through fields and down hillsides where there had been no streams a day earlier, standing water making hay fields resemble rice paddies, but the roads were fine even through Truro which sits on a flood plain at the end of the Bay of Fundy (highest tides in the world!)

Truro is located at the far right end of the water in this diagram (just off the map) – past where it says tides are 49 feet (15 m).

Ah – but supper time was low tide. By the time we traveled home at 10 that evening, matters were different. We saw a car abandoned in the Sobey’s parking lot, water up to the middle of its doors. And we found all the access roads through & around Truro closed because of flooding, necessitating some quick thinking and back roads to get home.

None of my photos turned out because it was too dark – but trust me: what looks so benign in my front yard was anything but at high tide in Truro.

Summer is fast drawing to a close & I realize that I’ve not shown you a full summer view from my window. (Oh, I wish I had a new camera!)

Despite the warmish weather of the last couple of weeks, the grasses and trees are losing their vibrant summer green, so I thought I’d concentrate on the mountain ash tree in the front garden. It volunteered itself there about four years ago and this year, for the first time, displayed the glossy orange berries that characterize it. (And, yes, the sky is really is that blue.)

We spent yesterday afternoon at the beach but it rained all night and today it’s 13C/55F with a NW wind blowing at 60km/35mph that makes it feel much colder. But the sun is shining – which it’s supposed to do all weekend. Have a good one, wherever you are. I’ll be back with book-related posts next week.

When we came to Nova Scotia, I didn’t realize we were moving near the Cobequid Hills – one of the three mountain ranges here. All of these ranges are part of the Canadian Appalachians, which are an extension of the American mountain chain of the same name.

The Cobequid Hills run along Nova Scotia’s north shore from the Minas Basin to Antigonish, and contain the highest point on the mainland – 1200-foot Nuttby Mountain. (The “mainland” is Nova Scotia without Cape Breton Island.)

My doctor has prescribed walking for my arthritic back and so I try each day to take my dogs for a walk. One of my favorite spots is in the 70-acre hayfield behind our property. This morning was overcast and cool, and the view of the Hills at the back of the field was beautiful.

I’m up to only 15 minutes of walking time, but if you’ve ever tried moving rubber boots through thigh-high grass, you’ll know it’s still a pretty good workout.

Okay, this week I cheated a bit and stepped outside the door to take this shot, but I’m so proud of my tulips.

I have huge gardens here but a couple of years ago I had surgery on my hand and spent the summer in a rehabilitation device that restricted all use. My gardens got away from me that year and I haven’t yet been able to get them back in control, so this show of non-weed color thrills me.

Please ignore the lawn in the background. The constant rain has made it lush but has prevented us from cutting it as often as it needs.

P.S. If you don’t have tulips but want some, why not send yourself some?

The garden in the middle of our front lawn is filled with wild rose bushes, which look sort of ratty this time of year. But the ground below is carpeted with daffodils–it’s a bumper crop of blooms this year.

I picked some for the dining room table. There seems to be five different varieties: a golden yellow King Alfred type, a paler yellow similarly shaped variety, cream petals with an orange center, white petals with a yellow center, and a double yellow bloom (most of these are past their prime so there’s not many in the bouquet).

Which is your favorite?

Don’t have daffodils in your garden? Send yourself some spring flowers. Here are some beautiful tulips.

Is spring really here? There’s only a few low clouds in a beautiful blue sky and although the temperature is only just above freezing, the sun is warming the earth.

To the right, you can see the tamarack trees at the end of our drive. They are the only coniferous tree in Canada to lose their needles in the winter. I love them for it, although I’m glad that other species stay evergreen so we have some color during the winter months. No buds yet – but soon, soon!

Last week, we were on a road trip to southern Ontario where (then) it was balmy and spring-like. While we were gone, most of the snow here melted too and the first three days this week were wonderful and left me full of hope. Then I woke up this morning to this–and still snowing.

Will winter never end? It makes me so down….

We’ve had a lot of snow and ice–particularly ice–the last little while and everyone I know is ready for spring. Today is cold but SUNNY, and the forecast calls for temps above freezing tomorrow through Tuesday.

Today’s photo is really about the shadows caused by the sun as it swings to the west. You may also notice that the big evergreen tree looks a little different than last year. Nova Scotia Power was “kind” enough to send tree trimmers along our road last summer. The piece that came off the top of this tree was 10 or 12 feet high. I know the trimming is necessary to protect the wires, but I mourned this cut.

Can you see them? I finally figured out how to enlarge the detail and now I can show you the animals in the field across the road.

We see deer there nearly every day. Every delivery person who comes comments on seeing them there. And I often see cars stopping just in front of our place and backing up a bit to get a better look.

They are such gorgeous creatures and I never tire of seeing them or admiring their beauty.

P.S. Do you mind that I cheated a bit and took this picture this morning?

We’ve had rain and temps above freezing all week, and last night when I went to bed, there was no snow to be seen. I thought I’d show you a real contrast from last week.

Alas, this is what I awoke to. That’s a main highway out there. There’s a wind gusting to 50 mph from the south (?!), which is the other side of the house, that blowing a icy mist of snow across the roads.

The sun is very bright today and the sky achingly blue. I thought you might enjoy this study in shadows, looking north.

It’s been a bleak day after a couple of days of bright sun and biting cold.

The bit of snow on the field across the road reminds me that I chose the main color scheme for my house–gold with white trim–from this field. Given the lack of sunlight this afternoon, the colors are not shown at their best.

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Last week, Kristen of BookNAround commented that, if she worked in my office, she’d be spending all her time trying to guess the color of the next car to come along. So I decided to show her. Read the rest of this entry »

Busy couple of days and so I didn’t get this posted on Friday. But I didn’t want to miss showing you the colors.

The rain on Friday was soft, almost a mist, and what little wind there was was not from the north. The day was almost warm.

The wet had saturated the grasses in the field and on the lawn, bringing out the jewel tones in this bit of creation.

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It’s been a bonus week of lovely (almost) mild & sunny weather and the weather office promises a couple of more days like this. We’re enjoying while we can.

The lovely golden leaves on the alder are all gone, so I’m focusing this week on the field across the road.

The white dot on the far side of the field is one of my cats hunting mice. Hunters shot a deer in the woods there last week – way, way not far enough away from the road and houses.

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Not being camera-savvy, I couldn’t get the picture beyond the window this week. The lens would record only the ice on the pane.

At 4 p.m., it’s as dark as night, the wind is howling and blowing the trees and the sleety rain horizontal.

What a change from last week!

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