A Silver Thaw at Meadow House

Starting early on Sunday the snow started falling. It quickly turned to freezing rain and this gently fell throughout the rest of the day and night, slowly coating all branches, blades of grass, every exposed surface in a smooth frozen icy coating. Everything was encased in ice. Kota and Rosie Lee took only a couple of steps out of the front door, then quickly turned and rushed back indoors. The whole day was spent curled up on the sofa with them, the fire blazing, and getting up only to fetch snacks or throw nuts and seeds out for the birds. I did this regularly, almost hourly, and was rewarded with a huge showing of the local flutterers. I didn't take any photos, simply wanting to just enjoy watching them, as did Kota and Rosie Lee. We had juncos, cardinals, blue jays, crows, nuthatches, sparrows, finches, wrens, but I didn't see any robins or grackles. The most surprising visitors were the woodpeckers who joined their peers on the ground, chowing down the seed and nuts as fast as possible. There were hairy woodpeckers, red bellied woodpeckers but my favorite was the pileated woodpecker, a huge bird, easily a foot long, or bigger, with an amazing bright scarlet mohawk hairdo. He wasn't a bully towards the others, in fact, was almost timid, but enjoyed his feast and returned a few times.
I didn't venture out during the day but early on Monday morning it soon became apparent that I'd have to work from home as the road was treacherous. I dutifully sat down with my laptop and caught up with art requests until sparkles started catching my eye. The sun was rising and turned the icy landscape into a fairy tale scene. work was forgotten, I grabbed my camera and headed outside.

I know ice storms cause a lot of damage and problems. I'm always worried about the weight of the ice damaging the trees; constantly alert for the brittle snap of breaking boughs. We have had our power lines brought down too. I'm never too concerned about this in the winter. I have the wood stove and if necessary, can put foodstuffs outside to keep them cold. But I do worry about the animals who can't feed or find water. I think our resident skunk has wised up to the birdseed because I've had a large planter knocked off the patio edge to the grass below and the seed by the back door is completely gone each morning, due to being vacuumed up by somebody, it seems. An odorous calling card is left some mornings also...
But this morning it was impossible to focus on the inflictions of the storm when I was surrounded by twinkling beauty, the ice everywhere glistening and glittering like diamonds. I even saw all colors of the spectrum glinting from a few trees but was unable to capture the colors with my camera. It was as if everything was made of glass. As I crested the hill and looked down on the sparkling fields and pond, I stood and marveled at the wonder of nature creating such a stunning landscape. It was so magical that I wouldn't have been surprised if a unicorn had pranced out, gleaming and flashing its magical mane. It really was a beautiful landscape, sometimes pure white, sometimes with a pink or pale yellow hue from the morning sun, and I felt very fortunate to be living among nature where I get to see these wonderful natural events without any human intervention, Mother Nature's painting in front of me unsullied and untouched. I just stood and stared, my hands thrust deep into my pockets, fingertips numb with the cold, and savored this pristine panorama as the sun's rays grew warmer on my face, then turned to trudge back to the house where a huge mug of tea and a pile of work were waiting.