
It was the greatest Christmas present Maine could offer: a snowstorm. (It would also be noted that ‘great’ can mean ‘greatly bad.’ …And also we weren’t the only state to be hit with snow; Pennsylvania just got 53″ over two days.)
But I’ll start with the more peaceful aspects of the past few days.

The small (plastic) tree was adorned with some lights, and presents were gathered. …The phone camera never does direct light sources justice.

You have to turn the camera ISO waaaay down to get something of the shape of the tungsten filament in these bulbs.

It’s also a chore to make the right color adjustments for better representation of incandescent light. You might notice less grain in this photo; it was taken with long exposure.

Outside the house, temperatures have fallen, lower and lower. But before it turned bitter cold (below zero in the next few days), there was just enough precipitation to cover the trees, followed by enough sunlight to melt the ice, and spread the freezing water down the lengths of the branches. This process creates a sort of … tree-icicle formation or “tree-cicle effect.” What’s more, the weight of the ice causes branches to dip, and some breaches get so heavy that they break. It was interesting to see this, at first, the day before Christmas Eve. And a problem for us, it was not.
Until the next day.

Interesting became a mess. Whole trees began to droop into the snow. Branch fragments were littered throughout the path. It was a small pain to deal with, but not too bad. There wasn’t any new snow for the day (if I recall correctly); we could just dodge the branches, and be on our way.
Until the next day.

Christmas Day began with a loss of power for an hour and some 1″ per hour of the white stuff in the morning. Snow drifts drifted into a foot or so vertical.

The result was the first Winter Wonderland of the season. A real chore.

People had their snowblowers out, and the smell of the pollution was one of the first things I noticed when I opened the door.

Christmas Day put Christmas Eve’s mess to shame. The trees were in even worse shape.


These photos really don’t do the scene justice. There was so much snow in the trees.

It was bad enough that one day wasn’t enough to clear the snow from the driveway. I shoveled twice (second time at night), and still had some left to go. (Let’s hope I didn’t injure either of my arms this time.) And a few people were out with a snowblower again.

And the ice only got worse. Trees sparkled in the morning. (Click on the leading/topmost photo to see what I mean.)


A blue jay, flying by, stopped me in my tracks to snap a photo of this view. I saw another (or maybe the same one) outside the kitchen window, but of course I couldn’t get the camera in time to capture it.

As for presents, we got some nuts: assorted, almonds, cashews, and a lot of pistachios. Cutlery and outerwear. Dunkirk on DVD.

Well, that’s about it for today. I am once again tired. I hope you’ve had a wonderful time this holiday season. I may have more to share before the year is over, I may not. 2017, for a year, was… something else.
Until next time…

Oh! I am COLD now. Beautiful pictures, but oh my goodness, all that shoveling. Your poor arms and back. And the poor trees, so weighted down. I hope they don’t lose too many branches.
The cookie made me smile.
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That’s waaay too much snow!
But that cookie looks very tasty.
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It is a lot of snow. (And cold enough that I’ve walked no more than ten minutes at a time.)
The cookies were homemade goodness. 🙂
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