Thursday, January 29, 2026

Snow......

 


Oh.... Whoa....! 

So Far, Dear Readers, this Winter has been a cold and snowy one in my Neck 'o the Woods. We got about eight inches of snow back on the first of December, and it stayed so cold none of it melted until just before Christmas. We had just enough of a "dusting" on Christmas Eve to qualify for a "White Christmas" but only barely. Then it snowed again the day after Christmas and followed that with a nasty Ice Storm... we got mostly sleet and rain right here but it froze solid afterwards leaving everything quite icy. Last week we got another very lovely "small" snowfall of about five inches and it fell overnight and everything was covered with snow in the morning. I love to get out to take pictures of the "Winter Wonderland" before the sun rises and the snowblowers show up to knock all the snow from the branches. It was very pretty out there. And it reminded me that I had neglected to "transform" The Folly into the "Winter Wonderland" for which I worked so hard and so long in years past! It does not take long and is always such a pretty setting!

 
Nobody has been out to disturb the snow 
and it has drifted a bit in the corner by the Glass House.

The snowy rhododendron shrub was finished just last year.....


 And deserves heaps of admiration, if I do say so myself...!

 
And of course, the Snowy Lilac Shrub was the first of 
the entire garden series to be completed..... 
waaaay back in February of 2019!
 It took the rest of that year to complete the flowering version
 and you can read all about it in the archives!
"Oh, hello, Mr. Gnome, I didn't see you behind all that snow!
 Are any of the other Fellas out yet?"
 "Hmmmph... haven't seen 'em" declared Mr Gnome.
 Clearly, he didn't want to see them either!

 
Meanwhile, on a Cloud not Far Away, 
Cloude-with-an-'e' was chatting with his friend the little red-bird
 who liked to stop by the Cloud Palace Tower Garden
 when he was migrating south.
 Sometimes he stayed quite a while!
 But today he whispered to Cloude 
that it was snowing down below.... a thick fluffy snowfall!

 
 "Really...?" said Cloude-with-an-'e' startled.
 Then he thought "Oh.... it has been a while
 since I had a good Cloudy Day Snowstorm visit! 
I would love to have a good roll in the snow!" 
And before he knew what had happened...

 
He found himself lying in a big fluffy pile of cold snow!"

 
"Aaah....  that's the ticket...!" he declared 
to nobody in particular as he sat up and looked around.
 He had the feeling he had been here before,
 but was sure it had looked a bit different.... 
but no matter, the snow has a way of
 changing everything for the better in his opinion!

 
Meanwhile, over by the Glass House,
 there was a moment of consternation!
 "Shhh.... whispered Mr. Blue....
"I thought I heard something big come crashing down!"
 "You don't suppose it was 'ICE'....?" whispered Mr. Green nervously. 

 
Ms. Red peeked carefully over the snowdrift 
but couldn't see anything except more snow. 
If it was Ice, she was gonna roll away as fast as she could... or hide. 
Maybe she should just hide in a drift until Spring... 

 
"I'll take a look-see" said Mr. Blue bravely....

 
 He crept closer to the porch, keeping below the drifts.

 
Mr. Green followed him cautiously...

 
Meanwhile, Cloude-with-an-'e' was blissfully unaware 
of the stir he was causing by his sudden arrival!

 
But he thought he would take a look around and see if any-being
 was awake yet this fine snowy morning!

 
"Oh hullo, Mr. Gnome! he called cheerfully 
when he spotted him on the porch. "I thought that was you!"

 
"Remember me? I'm Cloude.... 
Cloude-with-an-'e'" he added helpfully. 
"Hmmmph..." replied Mr. Gnome noncommittally.

 
"I think it's just that Cloudy guy....
the "Gnomeman" whispered Mr. Blue
 as they heard Cloude-with-an-'e' talking to Mr. Gnome... 
"Remember when he was here looking for his hat?" 
said Mr. Green with more confidence.

 
"Oh... you're here too are you...?" 
said Cloude-with-an-'e' cheerfully 
as he spotted the little Snowfellas.

 
"Hello Mr. Gnomeman... er I mean
 Mr. Cloude-with-an-'e' " said Mr. Blue carefully.
 "We were hiding" he added.
 "We thought you might be some Ice showing up." 
"We've been hearing a lot about Ice..." added Mr. Green. 
"We're from Asia and we've been here a long time,
 but we don't have papers." he added anxiously. 
"Nobody ever said anything about papers before!"

 
"Ice!" declared Cloude-with-an-'e'..... 
"I don't know anything about Ice!" 

 
"I'm a Snowbeing through and through! All Snow... 
with a big heart too!" he added for clarity. 

 
"And I am from Germany! But I have it on the Best authority
 that Snowbeings are made from Crystal Clouds.... 
and Clouds go anywhere they please
 and nobody asks them for papers!" he declared.
 "So you are completely safe with me" he added.

 
"And I could even give you a "Cloud tour"
 if you wanted one!" he added with a smile.
 
And believe it or not, Dear Readers, 
the other day it snowed again at my house.... A Lot! 
Not a Ton.... but a Lot! 
Oh, you wanted to see some RL pictures...?

 
This was the pretty little five inches of snow last week...

 
And this was yesterday morning... 
we got about 16 inches on top of what we had.... 
and the temperatures have been in the
 below-zero Fahrenheit in the mornings! 
It has not been above freezing all week
 and will stay cold for a while yet... 
But I'm okay..... as long as it isn't Ice! 
So you can see, Dear Readers, 
we have snow.... lots and lots of snow... 
Oh, Whoa! 


 

5 comments:

  1. Wow so much snow! It's hard to imagine what it's like to live where you are, for someone like me who spent most of her life here where it rarely snows and when it does the whole country celebrates.
    Dear Betsy, I hope you are warm and alright. Take care of yourself.
    Hugs,
    Drora

    ReplyDelete
  2. Betsy, this is so delightful...and so cheekily clever! Snow is wonderful, while Ice is not! I loved your story and all the characters. Cloude with an e, Mr. Gnome, and the little snowfellas are so entertaining! You made me smile and giggle, and I sure do appreciate that. Wow, you DO have a lot of snow! We haven't had very much, which is unusual. I enjoyed all of your photos!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Que bonitas fotos tanto las de la nevada en miniatura como las de tu casa real! Me gusta la nieve, donde vivo es rara, pero cuando cae me maravilla!
    Me hiciste reír con la historia de todos los pequeños personajes!
    Disfruta bien abrigada de esos preciosos paisajes!
    Besos.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Count me in when it comes to permanent frost and 5 inches of snow... but I'm so thankful I'm in no way dealing with 16 inches. I might have mentioned this before... but I truly dislike this da*n cold white stuff - and so do my aching bones.

    However, I love the sight of snow around the Folly and the legendary snowy lilac in all its glory... now side by side with its trusted companion "Snowy Rhodie". And I know this will totally surprise you and even knock you out of your socks - but I loved so much to see Cloude-with-an-e appear first in the clouds and then in the cloudy snow piles! I bet you didn't see this remark coming, did you? *LOL*

    And I always like whenever Mr. Gnome is showing up... my, is is just me or has he been in a better mood than usual? And usually I also enjoy when the little snowfellas show up... but today they made me sad. Seeing Ms. Red hide as good as she could behind a pile of snow and hearing Mr. Green talking about his Asian origin and about Ice and missing papers broke my heart. How could it ever happen that a gentle snowman with a big heart could be mistaken for a frightening Iceman...

    Thanks for this post... which is (I dare quote) so cheekily clever! And filled with beautiful photos and so many things which warmed my heart despite the things which made me shiver. Seeing Cloude in general and in particular at what is planned to become the Cloude Palace Tower Garden one day put some sunshine into my heart. And perhaps a glimpse of hope... maybe you will dream one day about making it happen... and digging those very familiar looking flower pots into some cloud soil... Oh wait - I just notice... once more this was my dream... *wink*

    Hugs
    Birgit (who decided to start with the missing comments... and is going to write a THANK-YOU-SO-MUCH-e-mail tomorrow as now it's time to go to bed... knowing that Cloude is having fun and that the fairy bearies are always there... even if they are not visible as they are floating around in the clouds and sometimes outside some paper borders)

    P.S.: Kindest regards to Will - I pity him whenever he starts to grab his snow shovel! ;O)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi Betsy,

    Here also snow but not as much as you have, seems those little snowman are happy now, hahaha

    Thanks for your comment on my blog, still comming by and I hardly visit yours, shame on me (but I am not a big blogger)
    I am proud on my parrot, and while making him I was thinking of you telling me another "glue trick" hahaha and yes you have seen it again. I must say i like to try out glue sculpting, and must say it works better then you should expect. Maybee some day I can inspire you to try it as well. For now many thanks for all those visits and keep up your good creative work.

    Greetz Remco

    ReplyDelete