THE 8TH DAY

ICE STORM OF 2008!

Well it's the 8th day of the white stuff, now with icing on top! We are trapped up here with about 10" of snow topped by ice, and it's still raining and 28 degrees at noon!

I'm crying as we assess the damages to our trees. This is one of our Honey Locusts, which is one of my favorites. It's so beautiful with its yellow spring foliage, and it's open airy branching providing filtered shade. Well, we'll just have to look on the bright side. There will be more sun for my iris!The Mimosa also suffered pretty severe damage. It was finally doing well after the damage it suffered in the 2004 ice storm! A good portion of it is blocking our sidewalk back to the garden and barn. It made it very tricky to get to the cats in the kennel to feed them! But look at the beautiful icicles hanging on its broken branches. Isn't it just like our Lord, who can make beauty out of the destruction in our lives? We just love photographing the Japanese Maple. It's a tough little tree, bending but not breaking with the weight of snow and ice. This may be its last snow and ice storm if we get to go ahead with building our sun room. I'll really miss it, and will definitely plant another one.

Oscar also had a tough time navigating in this crunchy stuff. It was comical to watch him break though the ice layer with each step and sink in almost to his belly!

It looks like we have a new arbor over our arbor! The birch trees' delicate branches always have trouble with the snow and ice. But those same lacy branches add delicate beauty to our "normally" rainy winters.