We feel cold, but we don’t mind it
because we will not come to harm.
And if we wrapped ourselves against the cold,
we wouldn’t feel other things,
like the bright tingle of the stars,
music of the Aurora,
or best of all the silky feeling of moonlight on our skin.
~Philip Pullman
After last night’s winter storm, we woke to find the ground, the streets, and the rooftops covered in a solid blanket of sleet mixed with snow. Icicles were hanging from eaves and other solid objects; branches, stems, leaves and the few remaining roses had been encapsulated in ice. The forbidding frozen world outside was steeped in silence but for the occasional gusts of wind that sent falling leaves round and round in capricious little whirlwinds tapping softly against the icy ground.
In the coming days the garden will shrink dramatically. It’s beauty will be harder to see, but for those who continually walk its paths with searching eyes and vivid memories, emerging treasures can be spotted and glory envisioned in places where it was and shall rise again from seeming nothingness. During the warmer spells in the next few months, I’ll clean up the growing season’s spreading, untidy tangle and reshape her fetching figure while below in her fertile womb mysteries, ancient and sacred, are coming together to birth yet another springtime.
Then the Lord spoke to Job out of the storm. He said From whose womb comes the ice? Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens when the water become hard as stone, when the surface of the deep is frozen? ~Job 38:1 and 29-30 ✝
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Watch your step!! Hopefully you still have power!!!
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Yes thankfully we do have power. And I am very careful when I go out. I sure don’t want any broken bones. Blessings, Natalie 🙂
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That does look cold. Is that normal weather for Texas? If so, it makes me realise how ‘mild’ the English climate is. Cooler in summer and warmer in winter. Take care Natalie.
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Oh no, Jessica, this is definitely not the norm. Some winters we don’t get any snow or ice and some we do, but then in a few days we warm back up again. It was 83 degrees here the day this storm hit, and though we may not go back up that much, we will get back to warmer days. I would so love to have cooler summers here, but July and August are usually right at, if not over, 100 degrees every day. Blessings, Natalie 🙂
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I absolutely love these images, Natalie! Delightful. Hope you’ve wrapped a cosy blanket around our fragile friends, the saffron crocuses. 😉
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Thank you, Annette. I’m glad you liked them. I covered up several things outside before the storm him and I hope they all make it through this. Blessings, Natalie 🙂
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Love your icicle picture and the trees with freezing rain!! YOu need to be careful if you go out.
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