Snow Day

We have had a rare snowstorm this week, and are enjoying being home in the snow. Our area will often get a bit of snow each winter, but we usually only get an inch or two before it melts and goes away. In our yard we have over 7 inches, and it is supposed to stick around for another day or two. We continue with some of our book work, but we also took some time out to learn about snow and have some fun.

5 1/2 inches above the 2 we had from earlier

We've really been enjoying watching the birds at our feeders. We enjoy them from inside the warmth of our home but also sitting quietly outside in the snow and watching them fly over and around us. We can hear the whoosh of feathers and the calls and chirps they make.

We've had a Townsend's Warbler around, which we don't see very often. We like their bright yellow colors and their black masks.

Lots of little footprints in the snow on the porch.

Snow science

We found a neat website that explains how snowflakes form, and all kinds of information about their shapes. We read about how they are usually 6-sided, because of the bonds of hydrogen and oxygen in water. We tried to interpret the chart explaining which snowflakes form at which concentrations of moisture and temperature. Then we took our printed snowflake chart outside to catch snowflakes on black card stock, to try to see what we were getting. Our snow was tiny needles.

Tiny needles of snow on black paper

The kids pulled Daddy on the sled

Finally, we made maple syrup candy, just like they did in the pioneer days (such as in the Little House series). We boiled the maple syrup to the soft ball stage, then poured it into waiting pans of snow. It hardened into candy! Not that great for fillings or braces, but oh, so yummy. I used quakerfarm.com for the recipe, since it seemed to be the most basic.

Boiling maple syrup

Poured onto cake pans full of snow

Our finished candy, on paper towels to soak up the snow bits

We've had a great day! Now I need to stoke the wood stove again, and get some warm stew cooking for dinner.

Neglect

Rose hips covered in snow

Oh, my poor, neglected blog! It sits here, quietly waiting, while I am off living life and giving my love to my Hiker Mama website and blog. Yet I feel the stirrings of more to come. I haven't wanted to shut this space down, even though no one except my Mom reads it, because I feel I am not done here yet. Can I keep two different blogs going? We shall see. I do want to spend more time here, though, capturing our days, especially the ones that don't make it onto thehikermama.com.

Dude, you need a bigger shovel

We've had snow this week. This is pretty special. We don't have snow every winter here in Puget Sound, and when we do it is often a dusting one day and gone the next. We've been enjoying a few days of fluff in the yard. It should stick around for a few more, and then turn back to good old rain. We'll enjoy it while we can!

The giant snowball that Daddy made

Tidbits

I've posted a more complete story of our hike to Lime Kiln Trail Friday on nwhikers.net.  Click on the link if you want to read more.

We got snow again today.  It melted by mid-afternoon, but it sure accented how much strange weather we've been having this winter.  I can't remember having this many snow events.  We had some giant flakes falling for awhile.  I kept catching myself gazing out the window, watching flakes fall, wind blow, light change and such.  

Annika's coloring has changed lately.  She has begun being more deliberate in her markings, and is starting to tell stories about the pictures.  This one has whales ad fish on it.  The whales are really happy.  The fish are, too.

I hope your weekend was refreshing and that your week goes well!  Thanks for stopping by.

How Many More Weeks of Winter?

I guess the groundhog was correct when he said we'd have six more weeks of winter.  The past few days have brought snow showers punctuated by the driving forwardness of spring.  I stepped out the back door this morning to photograph the powdery snow that had dusted the yard, when I found a surprise - several violets hunkering down under the miniature drifts.  These violets came from my neighbor across the street when she was cleaning out one of her beds and these had taken over.  They've hung on through two or three years of neglect.  I didn't remember them blooming so early.

We had such interesting snow today.  We had powder, pellets, floating down like dust motes in a sunny window.  We had large conglomerations of flakes falling heavily to earth.  We had sun that melted the snow as fast as it was accumulating.  We had blustery wind that made me think we lived up north somewhere, as it blew the snow sideways.  

Annika and I opted to walk to the library for storytime today, getting all cold and snowy but enjoying the fresh air and brief path through the forested greenbelt.  Annika mentioned how quiet and peaceful it is in the forest with the snow coming down.  I thought it was interesting she would notice such a thing.

We came back home to find a surprise on the doorstep - some Amy Butler notecards I won in a giveaway on CraftStylish a while back.

 I felt special to have something so fancy delivered to me. They are another reminder of spring on its way, no matter what color the ground is today.

Hope

Even in these short, grey, cold and damp days, I find hints that spring is coming.

Snow thoughts

It's snowing here again.  It's been snowing since late this afternoon, and we have four inches.  The flakes are big and fluffy, moister than the snow we had before Christmas.  The trees and bushes are all decorated again, and look pillowy in the ambient light of the suburbs.  I stood outside for a few minutes as I was gathering firewood.  I stilled myself and listened.  It was quiet except for the roaring of the furnaces at the pool on the other side of the green belt.  The snow made soft whispering noises.  Occasionally a brief puff of wind would stir the trees, causing lumps of snow to plumpf off through the branches.  The large conglomerated flakes tickled my face.  I felt if I stayed still for even a short while, I would be covered, camouflaged.  I wondered briefly how long I would be able to stay still, but I could feel moisture seeping through the seams of my shoes.  I decided reluctantly to go back inside to the warm fire and the cozy blankets on the couch.

Let it Snow!

It snowed all afternoon and evening yesterday.  We awoke to 8" of fresh powder.  In a normal year we are lucky to get and inch or two that lasts for a day before turning to rain again.  It is rare to have wintry weather like this for so long.  Everything is covered in white and that excitement is in the air.  We are hunkered down and enjoying a quiet Sunday at home together.  

Here are a few photos from this morning.

Snow on dried lily stems

Annika eating snow - again

Clematis Cap

Snow on Bird Bath

Looking up into the Deodora - red, green and white

Bird footprints

Cat Footprints

We got to watch our red-breasted sapsucker at work today.  We sat only a few feet away, and quietly watched it feeding.  Annika wanted to hold it.  We could hear the soft pecking noises and the scratch of its claws on the tree bark.  A few times it made an alarm call, which sounded like a dog's squeaky toy.  It made Annika laugh.