Not Seeing the Forest for the Trees
January 22, 2016
The flakes began falling here just about 2 hours ago, and I can see them through my studio window. Such tiny delicate things; it's difficult to imagine the havoc they're going to wreck, but for now, I'm simply enjoying this quiet time. It's time to hunker down and to just be. Whether it's reading, editing photos, or putting the jigsaw puzzle together with twit 1, everything is slowing down.
The plow just rumbled by, jolting the quiet with the scrape of its blade along the pavement. I don't think I'll hear that much longer; the snow is accumulating rapidly. Mother Nature means business this weekend; she's taunted us so many times with the promises of inches and inches, but at the last minute she fails to follow through. She can be quite the tease.
But today? Oh, today she's strutting her stuff and showing what she's made of. My favorite nickname for this storm is "SnowYou'reReallySerious!"
Phil's downstairs is what's been dubbed the drying room, that name a whole story in itself. He's computing away for the U.S. Government and happily engrossed in building a share website and watching the snow on radar.
Twit #1's engrossed in "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles," happily enjoying the tv while we still have power. With any great luck, we just might get to keep it, but the betting odds aren't great on that one. So, the firewood is stacked in the laundry room, and ready for service.
This DC Metro area does not do snow well; not at all. Two nights ago, we painfully and slowly crawled home on streets covered with ice after watching Twit #2. Flurries had been predicted, and temperatures have not been above freezing for several days now. Throw in the fact that that said flakes decided to appear during rush hour...well, the games commenced. With everyone focused on this weekend's storm, no one much considered Wednesday's "flurries," which decided to hang around for awhile and produce about an inch. No one saw the forest for the trees.
A good many people living in this area just don't know what to do with snow, let alone ice, and ice it became. Hills that looked like nothing caused folks to begin an ice skating production. Everyone seemed to be slip sliding away. The ratio, if you the traffic gods smile upon you, seemed to be that what normally takes 1 minute took about 20 to 30. On air government officials tap danced their way trying not to answer why roads had not been pre-treated; these flakes were not a surprise. News headlines dubbed the evening "Carmageddon," a pretty accurate description. The good Lord only knows what 30-30 inches will do, but I pretty much think the nation's capital will be effectively shut down. No one is going anywhere for a few days.
We had just a few things to do as far as snowstorm prep work goes. Our house is generally fairly well stocked at any given point; it may not be what our little hearts desire, but we're not going to starve. Phil and I picked up a few things over the weekend and then some coffee a few nights ago. Even then, I just stood and gaped at some very empty shelves in Trader Joe's. Phil hauled in firewood in case we lose power; I arranged for Twit #1 to arrive early for our weekend visit so that no one had to drive him once the festivities began. Last night, we visited a favorite used book store and hauled home two tote bags full of loot. I love, love, love a good used bookstore. This particular one is huge having once been a big boxed store. It's a bit of a jaunt, so we always make it worth our while. I rarely have to pay cash, since I always have books to turn in, even if it's just the ones from our last visit. I said a few thank you prayers as we drove by food chain parking lots with drivers circling the grounds hoping for a slot. Lines at gas stations sometimes stretched for blocks. All the naysayers that loudly pronounced that "We wouldn't get a thing" now were madly trying to get themselves ready for Armaggedon.
The remaining laundry is tumbling away downstairs just in case we lose power later. Twit #1 came packed with plenty of clothes. There is peanut butter in the kitchen, wine in the closet...and some bourbon!...and cell phones are charged. We are generally ignoring the doom and gloom folks on tv, radio, and the internet. We all know it's snowing. We all know that it's going to snow a lot.
For now, I'll edit photos, do a bit of reading and writing, and just enjoy the show. It's going to be a good one, I think!
Note: The photo above is part of an assignment from the on line class I'm taking in conceptual photography. We had to create an "alternative space." Creating it can become as easy or as difficult and intricate a job as you like. I began with a whole different idea, but I ran into the inability to hang a large piece of white or muslin colored cloth for my backdrop. Well, I could hang it, but it wouldn't stay up! Couple that with my figuring out how to try to focus the camera while using a self timer, and I decided to go to Plan B. Plan A will be revisited once I get a background support system. Nothing fancy, just something that will keep the cloth from repeatedly tumbling down as I tried to get what was in my head to come out of the camera.
I had picked up a lovely vintage apron to be used for Plan A. Plan B became hanging the apron over the rod in our bedroom. Convert it all to black and white, and I think I have a lovely study in light and dark. It's fun to push the envelope a bit, to try one more thing to see what happens. So much of what I try ends up not working, but when it does, I just grin, and then think...but what if I tried...?
P.S. The snow is getting heavier and falling more quickly; Mother Nature is not pulling her punches!
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