An Icy Walk

Yesterday was March first, and the month started off on a sunny note. This winter so far has been very cold and snowy…. much like the winters we used to have when we first moved here.  Ken had the mini van and I needed to ship an order, so I decided to take a walk up the driveway…. It was quite an experience, but I made it home safely.

Looking out the front windows, things looked much like this without the snow on the trees, and more dirty snow showing. It looked much warmer than it really was. I have avoided walking the driveway during the winter for quite a few years now. With a pickup with a plow and a tractor, the driveway can be plowed when we get snow and if needed a vehicle can be towed out. With no vehicle,  it looked like a “nice” day for a hike…..  A couple lessons were learned (or remembered from the days of walking kids to the bus and tobogganing groceries down from the top):
1) Wear a hat…. I wore gloves, but it looked warm enough to skip the hat…. I wished I had it very quickly, but not soon enough to go back to get one. Once I got up to the row of pine trees, I found there was a pretty good breeze headed straight at me. Holding gloved hands on ears while walking, holding a package is not easy.

2) Wear boots or grippy footwear on ice…. The day before had been above freezing and there was water flowing everywhere…. I thought my “duck” shoes would work…. Note: Plastic shoes are very slippery on ice…. The photo above is where we turn and park the van, taken the morning of my walk. Frozen water is also very cold and my feet froze in the thin duckies…. extra socks might have helped. I ended up skating a few times… not fun.

Thankfully, much of the driveway had a strip or spots of bare frozen dirt to walk on. Here was one of the “fun” spots where water runs across it and was a skating rink. This is probably the most level part of the driveway, at the top before it slopes down toward the road. This photo was taken looking back toward home.

One thing I did remember was to take my camera with me. I have been trying to keep it with me at all times… I didn’t try to take photos on the way up because I was carrying my package, so I began clicking once I dropped it into the mail box.

Actually this was taken from the driveway a bit in from the road…. The little community of Black can be seen with the Church and a few farms. It is a pretty view from here.

Here is the big wreath that I made for myself… I never did get a picture of it finished until now. It still looks like it did the day I put it there, and with the pink ribbon it doesn’t look out of place.

The snow has melted a little, but there are not too many bare spots yet. This was part of a rotten log that was emerging from the snow….

It is hard to see from this picture, but this is probably the steepest part of the driveway. You can see where there were two rivers running down the tracks the day before. The sun was reflecting beautifully off the ice.

Here is the hay wagon and a row of hay bales that are sitting in the field beside the driveway. I is hard to remember how hot it was when Ken was piling the wagon full of the square bales last summer.

The ice may be very cold, but it is also very beautiful, especially upon closer inspection. A lot of bubbles formed as the water was freezing above. There are also some frosty flakes decorating the top, too.

This frozen puddle was driven over and the ice cracked in an interesting way.

The lowest section of the driveway in front of the trailer. The water was rushing the most here…. Thankfully the plow dug into the edge of the lawn a bit and made for easier walking.

This is what the view looking toward Towanda was like standing where I took the previous photo. The mountains have a blue cast along with the blue sky. Photos from the days earlier were all shades of gray.

I don’t think the Pickup would have gone anywhere without ashes over the  ice… All 4 wheels were on the slick stuff…. The day before, it was standing in running water. The water coming down the driveway goes around the end of the trailer and into the back yard…. right through two of my gardens.

This is what the gardens in the back yard look like…. toward the right, you can barely see where the water was flowing the day before. There is a little bare spot starting where the “river” turns to head into the woods.

This is where the first of the Spring flowers will hopefully bloom. So far the snow has only melted from the stones that are on each side of the steps that lead into the yard.

The other side of the stone steps…. I hope to have Trilliums blooming here along with the Hostas. I need to have patience…. it will take a while longer for the snow to melt and allow the hidden treasures to show themselves.  I do love the way the shadows of the Walnut trees look on the snow.

This last photo shows the length of the stone wall garden…. The stalks and empty seed pods are still standing from the tall Oriental Lilies along with the Phlox plants. I can’t wait until the snow leaves and little bits of green and flowers start peeking out. The first to show themselves last year were the Winter Aconites in mid March… At least a couple of weeks to wait…. I guess until then, I need to keep finding inspiration from the snow and ice while it is still here.