As the sun rose yesterday it was cold, 21 degrees below zero, but the air was still for the first time in many days. The powdery snow that had fallen all day Thursday lay softly over the ground, and it was easy to imagine myself standing on a movie set somewhere much further south. The sky was so blue, the whiteness on the ground looked so much like layers of cotton batten. And then my fingers started to freeze, and the vision of palm trees disintegrated as fast as the smoke escaping from my chimney. And here is that smoke, and that chimney, and that blue sky…the second of six things in the garden this week, and the only photo in living colour. The first photo is the sun coming up behind the row of black pine trees just before 8 a.m.
You’d be forgiven if you thought the ground was frozen solid for metres and metres, but in fact there’s moving water not too far from the surface, as this little pond demonstrates. It’s created by the sump pump draining water that would otherwise flood the basement.
We don’t typically get a LOT of snow in my part of Canada – maybe a metre over the course of a winter, but temperatures fluctuate so much that it’s rarely a metre deep at any one time. For example, it’s supposed to climb above zero this afternoon, with maybe even a bit of rain. So it snows, some melts. It snows, some melts. Here’s a snow pile made from me shoveling the path down to the driveway…it never gets that deep just by falling from the sky. Just think, in just six months these iron rods will be supporting luscious tomatoes…
I was outside a few times yesterday as the snow fell, shoveling those paths…easier to do it a few times than once when it finishes snowing and it’s deep and heavy. The rabbits appreciated my pathways…
The rabbits are also appreciating the Brussels sprouts stalks I left standing. They’re not going to town on the leaves…I mean, who does…but by the time the first clover starts to flower these stalks will be gnawed bare, I’m sure.
I think spruce trees, even in black and white, are about the prettiest tree out there after a snowfall.
If you’d like to see six things in gardens around the world, including many gardens with actual flowers in bloom, take a look a Jim’s site, Garden Ruminations. Have a great weekend, everyone!
County Gardening 
Beautiful snowy pictures, and I have to say, -21°C is incredibly cold. The only other time I’ve experienced temperatures like that was when I went skiing in the Alps.
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Yes it was cold!! Much warmer today but snowing again…snow every day for the next week!!!!
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Stunning photos but so cold to go with them! Your spruce trees certainly are beautiful with their covering of snow. We hardly get any snow here but when we do it is lovely to find all the footprints of the wildlife that has been visiting.
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The footprints are so interesting! I should try to learn more about them so I can identify them…
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Pretty scenes as the earth lies in waiting for warmer days. 🙂
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😊
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One would think you were living in Siberia with those frigid temps. It’s great to have power, if you need to have the sump pump going. Too bad that ground water can’t be saved until the summer, when you need it. Envisioning Tomatoes growing is a happy thought. Snow is gorgeous resting on Spruce boughs…Hollies (which we have at least 10 of) also are so photogenic. You must be so happy, that you chopped that Ash tree & have so much wood to burn. Keep your Rabbits happy!
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Yes…electricity is Everything! I really need an emergency generator…
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21 degrees below zero. Blimey. Great photos and I’m glad to hear the rabbits like the Brussels spouts stalks!
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I think, when hungry enough and when the snow is deep enough rabbits and deer will eat anything! Happy the deer here stick mainly to the woods a ways away from my garden!
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Oh, my. Suddenly my need to put on a fleece sweater in the house doesn’t seem so terrible! The views of your yard are lovely, and that smoke is downright cozy, but aren’t you glad you piled up all that wood earlier this year? I got a kick out of the rabbit tracks; I usually only can track critters when it’s muddy around here. I don’t know many, but I do know rabbit, as well as raccoon, deer, hog, and alligator. It may be cold and snowy there, but I’m certain you won’t find any gator tracks!
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I shuddered at alligator tracks!!! Yes, VERY happy for all the work stacking firewood!
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Ah the snow! The weathermen got it wrong. I figured to be out there about now shoveling, but it is still coming down. The rabbits do indeed love a nice path. There are tracks in my backyard in which the bunny must have been going for maximum air to stay out of the snow. Mine have been working the dried up Dalea purpurea.
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There’s snow in the forecast every day next week!
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Oh my, that is too cold! It is pretty enough in pictures without actually being there. I have never experienced such extreme cold weather, which is why palm trees are so happy here.
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The cold can be quite exhilarating if you’re wearing the right clothes!
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It sounds like it could be dangerous! That is severely cold!
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Fun! I like the black and white photos in these conditions. Just lovely. We tend to have dramatic variations in temperatures during the winter, too, here in the Upper Midwest. Long snaps of bitter cold happen, though, and those are really tough on creatures and people. Stay warm! 🙂
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