The weather forecasters have toyed with my heart most of the winter. Predictions of snow that don’t pan out or, worse, deliver more rain.
But they got it right this weekend and a soft white blanket covered the ground overnight.
Snow is the stuff of nightmares for a large percentage of Lower Mainlanders. Vancouver is often called “Lotusland” for a reason; the snow rarely makes it to the ground anywhere but on the mountains that rise above the city.
So waking up today and seeing bright white was a happy moment.
The waterfall was draped in whiteness and the stream could barely be made out before it pours into the pond below.
And it was the kind of snow that I particularly love – light, fluffy, and more dry than wet.
The hummingbird feeder sported a fluffy covering and it was entertaining to watch a hummingbird buzz around it and knock the stuff off so that it could get at the liquid within.
Kirk decided that there was enough snow to warrant shovelling the driveway and I wandered the yard with the Lensbaby on the camera and took in the wonder of looking at the world through the lens.
The irony is that we had made plans for today. The intent had been to clean up the plants and get a couple of truckloads of soil, a yard or two, and spread it out over the garden to prepare it for the coming spring. Things are already starting to sprout, leaf buds are swelling, and flower buds are already opening on a few early risers.
But the blanket of snow sort of puts a crimp in spreading soil when one can’t see where it is going and what it is being thrown on top of.
The daffodils look particularly out of place on their canvas of white.
Vancouverites are funny when the white stuff comes out of the sky. For the most part, they are unprepared and woefully ill-equipped. I’ve seen my share of vehicles that have a peep hole scraped from the icy sheet covering the windshield or a similar few square inches scooped out of the snow covering the entire car. People are terrible for not sweeping off the roof of the car, and I’ve witnessed one person perform a hard brake at a light and have all the snow on the roof slide forward and blind them. They’ve then been forced to hold up traffic while they frantically try to clear it off.
A little bit of effort can save a whole lot of hurt later.
But I did like this example of advance thinking…. though I can’t help but wonder if the effort was greater to set this up than it would have been to just sweep a broom across the truck 🙂
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