Putting Fingers to Keyboard....#WQW...Theme: Water: Snow/Winter Wonderland


It's another week of  Writer's Quotes Wednesday, hosted by Marsha from Always Write. If you're interested in joining, you can find more about #WQW here.


This weeks theme is water, in the form of snow, which inevitably creates a winter wonderland out of any landscape. We actually had a dusting of snow last Sunday, and one other day, I don't remember which, it really started snowing but didn't stick. So pretty. 

On a side note, I've liked how I've done my quotes in boxes, but I'm wondering if they are too big, and the background busy. I'm thinking maybe I should change it up a bit? I'd love to know your thoughts. I love how Marsha changed hers...so maybe a smaller size, and a simpler pattern? Hmmmm, something to chew on for 2023. 

Back to snow. Now that I'm working, I find that while I want it to snow, I get a bit anxious about whether it will keep me from getting to work, or will my bosses husband have to come get me...etc. We live on a hill (photo below). It's not a long hill, but it's got enough of an incline that it's not always fun in the snow. We also have only 1 4wd vehicle, one front wheel drive, and my husband and my daughters cars are both AWD. If it snows my hubby will work from home or his boss will come get him. My daughter will often stay at my in-laws who live down the hill from us, and I'll drive the 4wd vehicle. But it's just a pain. Why can't it snow Friday nights, be beautiful all weekend and gone by Monday morning? I mean, that's not asking too much is it? Of course I also think it is a genius idea for it to only rain at night so everything is watered, and then dry during the day. 




I chuckled that our theme for this week was snow because in my Advent reading the other day, the Title for that day was Silence. Notice how when snow falls, it falls ever so quietly, not loud like rain or sleet, and when it settles, a quietness, a hush, lingers over everything the snow touches. According to AccuweatherAs it turns out, there's a scientific reason behind the calming silence, with the characteristics of snow playing a big role in how sound can travel. When light, fluffy snow accumulates on the ground, it acts as a sound absorber, dampening sound waves much like commercial sound absorbing products.

And coincidentally, when it begins to melt, those snowflakes change composition and lose their ability to absorb the sound as well, the thin crust of ice that forms, then acts more like a magnifier of sound instead of a buffer. 

But oh, how we love the quiet calm that first comes with the snow. As much as snow is stunningly beautiful in it's blanket of white, maybe it's the quietness I truly love. Maybe it's that everything it covers, no matter how ugly, becomes beautiful, becomes a winter wonderland. A simple phrase I found while looking for quotes said "When snow falls, nature listens". Simple, but I also think there's so much to that. 

We live in an area that doesn't get snow that often, at least not in the lower elevations. Woodland is only 33' above sea level, so it is mainly further out of town that sees regular snow. My house is only about 367.45 feet above sea level...IF my app is correct. So I do get excited to see snow, because we might only get it once or twice, usually after December. Last year it was February and then again in April. 



Our back yard.

In 2008, we were just moving into our current home. We'd lived 2 1/2 years with an older widow from our church...and they were great years, but I was ready to have my own home. She didn't have a big home, so we occupied 2 bedrooms that still had things that were hers in them (and rightly so). It was a blessing to us and to her because we helped her with many things while we were there. She knew my husband when he was little and was good friends with his mom. We got everything moved up to our house and a week or so later, we got hit with a BIG snow storm. We got over 2' at our house...to say I was in heaven was an understatement. I was in my own house, snowed in. My hubby would take our 4wd to work (at the time he worked about a mile away at our church). I was not working, and I was homeschooling our girls. That was a glorious year, and it was white for Christmas. The county cleared our hill and kind neighbors plowed our road so we could all get out if we needed or wanted too. Below is a picture of that snow.

I just loved this time in 2008. 


This quote always makes me laugh, because some people get so upset when it snows, but there's nothing we can do about it so why not be joyful.



Front of our house earlier this year




Near our driveway/front yard





I will also add that as much as I love the snow, I also know that it can have the tendency to be destructive as well. In 2021, right after we got some snow, and right a week after our granddaughter was born in Ft. Worth, Texas, they got hit with a snowstorm. Texas is not prepared in any way for snow. It was disastrous. My daughter and son in laws apartment complex lost power, and in a few units pipes burst because they aren't either insulated right or the right kind. They left water dripping (since they were from the PNW, they knew to do this when it got too cold), and went to stay at my son in laws brothers house since they still had power. I think they were there for almost a week. My husbands company almost sent a crew down to help with restoration process. What a crazy time. Pepper will have a story to tell someday. When her mama was a baby, we had two events that displaced us from our home temporarily. An ice storm that knocked power out when she was just a few weeks old, and a flood that was up to our porch. Crazy times. 


With Joy Unquenchable,
Kirstin

Comments

  1. You have had some crazy experiences with snow, Kirstin. Snow in a place that is not expecting it can be disastrous and it sounds like your situation in TX was. I love your quote about finding joy in snow. For someone who doesn't get a lot of snow, you get a lot of snow! :) We are supposed to get snow on Monday.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Marsha! I certainly love it, but it can be a pain when you have to actually go out and function in it...haha.

      Delete

Post a Comment

I'm so glad you stopped by. Thank you for leaving me a note. I look forward to making new friends on this blogging journey!

Popular Posts