Monday 7 December 2009

First Snow!

On Saturday morning it started snowing. And snowing. And snowing. The world turned dark, grey and invisible. It was a day that makes little writers want to take a Thermos of tea, a large bar of Dairy Milk and hibernate in their dens until Spring.

And then the next day something happened. The sun came out and the world turned to diamonds. I uncurled from my den, sniffed the air and ventured cautiously out into the sunshine.


What a stunning day. I walked about four miles from my house, taking pictures and wondering at the transformation; only a few weeks ago we had been wearing t-shirts and having barbecues.

I met two joggers and a man walking his dog. They all said 'hi!' in a 'well, look at this!' sort of way.




During the summer months the woods are filled with dense, lush vegetation that makes it all look positively tropical. This all dies back in winter and you can see much further into the trees. Things become visible that you are usually only aware of through rustlings and the sinister cracking of branches...
'Bugger off,' they seemed to say.




I spied a few snowmen but here was the strange thing. It was a beautiful, snowy Sunday but I didn't see a single child. Where were they all? In Britain they'd all be out pelting each other with snowballs and sledging into trees, right?

The place was deserted. Maybe the snowmen had made themselves or were visitors from another dimension.

Well, one thing's for sure. Winter has arrived.

4 comments:

Nik Perring said...

Wow! That looks gorgeous!

Sarah Hilary said...

Winter! Lucky you to have such beautiful snow. We have miserable, persistent rain here, although down the coast in Devon they had snow last week.

Richard Shelmerdine said...

I love your writing style Jen!
And it's so true - the thing about no kids. All I saw was one boy purposefully walking in the snow... until his mother stopped him.

platespinner said...

Lovely pictures! I'm hoping for some snow this year too, but so far only rain.