Brown grass and blue skies....

It seems like we have had a cold snap going on since shortly after Christmas.  The temperatures have been in the 20's several nights and we once had some rain that turned into these tiny little snow flurries.  We aren't nearly as put upon as the folks in the states to our north.  They have been buried under feet  of snow.  Cousins who live in Atlanta posted some pictures of their back deck which were just lovely; snow crisp and covering the landscape.  It looked so lovely.  Made me feel the silence.

Until it melts.  Then it would  seem that a person living with the melting snow would  most likely start complaining about  mud. As in, "Wipe your shoes off and don't dare track all that mud through the house!"  Or, until another freeze turns all that snow melt into slick ice.  Then you have to be careful of foot placements and falling.  T. and I watched a video taken from an overhead helicopter - it showed a chase of a fleeing man who was coming from a bank he had just robbed.  He had a hostage in front of him and together they side-stepped along the sidewalk, heading for the corner.  The alleged bank robber turned to cross the street, all the while keeping his hostage in front of him.  The police had to hold their fire.  The robber stepped across a berm of snow that had been scraped up by the snowplow.  He began to back into the street while pulling the hostage.  Oops!  His foot slid out and he crashed down.  The road was iced and when he fell, the female hostage ran to the police.   Shots were fired.  I leave the rest to your imagination. 

We don't have that kind of problem, for the most part.  Around our house, if you leave a sprinkler running overnight - you may get icicles on the fence.   Freezing water will coat a plant, frosting leaves in a sheet of ice.  The water in the trough for the horses may have a skin on the surface.  Our cars will have frost on the windshield that requires running the defroster for 20 minutes before driving off.  Or, you can drive off if you're willing to hunch over so you can see out the bottom of the glass under the rime of ice.  Your husband may have written the word cold on the windshield.  Of course, it looks like  D L O C because he didn't write it backwards.  And the grass is mostly brown and crunchy underfoot, except for the areas that are weed filled.   Weeds show their green much longer that the ornamental grass.  There may be a life lesson in there, somewhere.

People are counting the days until Spring brings leaf bud and flowers. 



Leaf encased in ice - 2010

 I love the look of  Winter with the brown grass spreading out under a stand of pecan trees.  Their bare branches allow the golden light of sunset to show through and you can see farther than you normally can while driving through the landscape.  There are neighbor houses that are visible now - and only in the Winter.  So, while some are wishing for the cold to end and the earth to green, others settle down in the landscape and look around content with the brown grass and blue skies of winter.