Thursday, December 22, 2011

My Solstice in the Snow

The Mile High City was treated to a snowy solstice.  About 9.5 inches (24 cm) of snow fell overnight.  I love snowy nights.  Everything is hushed and it never really gets dark.  It's beautiful.

My house is very close to a school and my street usually benefits from priority plowing.  Not today.  With school on break, the neighborhood streets were not plowed this morning.  Fortunately, I was able to take a snow day.

By early afternoon, the sky was clearing. 
snow and blue sky are a beautiful combination
Around 3:00 p.m., I headed out to shovel the driveway.  I opened my garage door to a surprising amount of snow.
view from the garage -- there is a driveway under there somewhere
While I was outside shoveling, the snowplow came down my street.  It was amusing to watch as three of my neighbors immediately got in their cars and left.  I guess they were all just waiting for the street to be cleared.
whew! reached the end; looking back toward the house
To finish its duties on the shortest day of the year, the Sun set with a colorful flourish.
the view from my front door

6 comments:

  1. Wow! That's so pretty! Your Solstice must have been so nice! Did you celebrate in a spiritual way, too? We had settled snow here until a couple of days ago, when it suddenly melted :( You seem to have had perfect Solstice weather! That sky from your door is GORGEOUS. I didn't take any outdoors photos for my Solstice blog entry, and regret that. I'd have regretted it more had it still been snowy. Can I post a link to this blog in my blog?

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  2. I didn't have any special spiritual celebration planned, but I did end the day feeling happy and serene. With the nighttime glow of the snow, the longest night of the year was never dark. :) I wish the photo had better captured the colors of the sunset. Yes, feel free to post a link. :)

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  3. Aw, you lucky ducky! No snow here in NYC this year for the holidays. :( Instead we are having quite balmy weather -- it was 60 degrees yesterday. Yep, 60 in December!!! Crazy.

    And shoveling is awesome cardio-strength training! WAHOO!!! And it's pretty darned exhilarating to boot.

    Happy Yule to you, darling!

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  4. Oh what a lovely amount of snow!! the snow here are melting away in time for christmas :(. We usually have a good deal of snow every winter but this one has been very warm. We don't have snow off days from work here, we are expected to come in time to work anyway. But do you change to snow tyres during winter season?
    Wishing you a wonderful christmas!

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  5. Le Professeur Gothique -- 60 degrees?! Bummer. It's hard to feel festive when it's that warm. Shoveling is good training indeed... my back is protesting today.

    linnea-maria -- This area gets snow pretty frequently, but the storms don't usually last long. It will often snow for one day and then turn sunny again. Lots of people do change to snow tires. Some even have an old beat-up truck that they drive on snowy days instead of risking damage to their newer car. It's all very new to me as I grew up in a warm place that might get a few snowflakes every 15 years.

    In general, the population here can get around okay in the snow. Businesses don't usually close. My workplace was not closed yesterday, but they were nice enough to allow me a snow day.

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  6. Awww, 60 isn't bad for the holidays. Everyone here just runs lights up the palm trees. I'm wearing flip-flops as we speak.

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