The worst of the
snow stopped on Saturday afternoon and our world looked like this.
 |
| Just baby drifts, but enough to stop the car |
Since then the north-easterly
wind has been blowing strongly and unceasingly and our world now looks like
this.
 |
| That's the outside world up there |
Unless either
the wind drops or the surrounding fields are scoured clear of snow, I reckon they’re just
going to keep on growing……
 |
| The drift that ate the orchard field |
This will be a
very quiet Holy Week for me and, unless the weather changes unexpectedly fast, the first time I haven’t been to
church on Good Friday and Easter Day in 38 years. But DH and I have food and power and each other and that will be enough.
Oh my goodness! I was wondering how you were getting on! LOTS of snow then. Nothing here thank goodness. Am glad you still have power, have plenty of food and warmth and each others company. Hope you escape soon!
ReplyDeleteYes, it does look very dramatic all piled up like that, but we've only had a fraction of the amount that hit north-east Wales and points north. Luckily I did some buying-in last week before it started so we'll just sit tight until it melts.....
DeleteIt seems surreal all this snow at Easter. Our road is a bit of a nightmare too. I missed our Palm Sunday service and the rest of the week is not looking too good. But as you say, we too have warmth, shelter, food and each other so those are things to be very thankful for - so many people don't have them.
ReplyDeleteI'm guessing you got even more than us, being that bit further east and north. I don't know what the council road looks like as we haven't struggled up that far. I've known heavy snow as late as the end of April, but never as much as this or with this strong wind to do so much drifting. Like you we think ourselves when compared to some poor souls.
DeleteIt's going to take something to shift that lot...but it's an appropriate week to be able to be quiet.
ReplyDeleteI am just awaiting the descent of the ticket of leave man on a quad bike...drugged and boozed to the eyeballs according to his girlfriend, who is...herself in similar state...following him in a 4x4.
It looks like a busy afternoon.
Oh for a snowdrift to both halt and cool them off....
We won't be doing any shifting of snow ourselves, but will leave nature to do it for us, not having anywhere we absolutely have to be. As you say, quiet is very appropriate this week.
DeleteI don't envy you your imminent visitation. If only snow would travel I could spare you quite a lot. :-)
I thought of you and your snow drifts....quite calming!
DeleteBoth vehicles confiscated, Danilo drove them home, following a surprisingly energetic discussion of the meaning of Holy Week. They gave me a great deal of food for thought and contemplation.
I'm glad you survived and am happy to have been of service. :-) I wish I could have been a fly on the wall during your conversation. I bet it was interesting, as these discussions so often can be.
DeleteIt's the same here. To take Lulu for a walk I have a choice of a mud field with soft snow on top which comes up to the top of my wellies, or a lane with snow drifts up to my thighs.
ReplyDeleteHaving lived here for 28 years it's the first time I have come across snow drifts as near to home as this. The wind is vicious.
This winter has been exhausting.
I've seen your photos and know just what you're coping with and you're so right about the wind. Brr! Derbyshire's terrain must be hard work in snow as deep as this. We had several winters back in the 70s and early 80s with drifts like these but that long run of mild winters both sides of the millennium meant we got out of practice at wading through drifts. Thank goodness we're retired.
DeleteSO glad to hear you have power, heat and food and can sit it out. That's some snow storm you've had! Take care & keep warm :-)
ReplyDeleteWe have all we need, thanks, and won't be reduced to burning old furniture like one poor family near Wrexham! As mentioned above we have much less snow than areas further north. The photos on the BBC website are mind-boggling for a late March snowstorm.
DeleteThese pictures are quite amazing P. I have an image of you with a bit pot of soup on the go, furiously knitting socks to keep out the cold.
ReplyDeleteHow well you know me! It was curry tonight, but soup's on the menu for tomorrow and |I'm on the second sock if the latest pair. :-) It's quite a while since we've had drifts as deep as these, but that wind just keeps piling them up from the fields.
DeleteThe farmers round here are all saying it's the worst snow for 30 years. I certainly have never seen anything as bad in the 20 odd years I have lived in Yorkshire. Those drifts are terrifying...someone was rescued from a car on the Hebden Bridge to Keighley road last night, after being stuck there for 15 hours. I am so pleased you have power, I just hope you have enough wool to keep you going ! Take care. Jx
ReplyDeleteI think they're right, Janice. We had a lot of snow in December 2010 (remember Heathrow coming to a standstill just before Christmas?) but not these huge amounts and without the dreadful wind which creates such huge drifts. Our drifts are nothing in comparison with the monsters shown on the news. If only the wind would drop so that the snowploughs can do their work once and for all.
DeleteDon't worry about me running out of wool. I have a stash. :-)
Your dose looks like a pretty hefty one Perpetua.
ReplyDeleteIt is good to know you have food and warmth, as you so rightly say, the rest can wait.
We have been lucky here by comparison, snow on Saturday but sleet to follow which melted 70 per cent of it.
Nothing however, seems able to deflect the awful east wind.
It has been blowing straight from Siberia for 10 days now and going out for all the Easter church services takes considerable determination.
Let's pray for it to change soon, we need our Spring.
Yes, it does look a lot all piled up in the lane, Ray, but in north-east Wales they have 2 feet of standing snow, before drifting! We probably only had about 6 inches before it started to blow. I think the eastern half of the country has got off lightly this time by comparison with the west though you're first in line when the wind comes from Siberia. :-)
DeleteI'm glad though that after all your hard work in rehearsals you'll be able to get to your Easter. Think of me as you sing - it will be very odd not to be in church on Easter Day.
Pristine, but very chilly looking. There is something pure about snow though ... until the thaw.
ReplyDeleteUntouched by human hand or foot, Shirlwin. :-) It's certainly cold for the time of year - struggling to get above freezing, even in the middle of the day.
DeleteThanks for visiting. I've seen your name often on Sian's blog.
Beautiful photos; I can never see too many snow pictures - so white, so pure, so sculptural, so decorative! Keep warm with your soup and sox and hope you can escape fairly soon. Missing Easter will be strange for you - I missed the past two Easters - first time in my life - and intend to make up for it in 2013! xx
ReplyDeleteIt was a good light for photos today, with a bit of blue sky and sunshine after all the heavy cloud of recent days. :-) I love the sharp edges you can sometimes get on snow drifts when the wind is steady and strong as it is at the moment. Thankfully we don't HAVE to go anywhere, so we can stay safely at home. But it will be very odd to miss the church services this weekend.
DeleteGoodness. Those are serious drifts! Thank heavens you have the essentials to see you through (such as the internet!), although the novelty of being snowed in does wear off pretty fast. The poor people on Arran and in Northern Ireland, who are stuck in house-high drifts with no prospect of electricity being restored any time soon, must be feeling pretty grim and cold by now. Such freakish weather.
ReplyDeleteOn this side of the country we have got off lightly. It has been snowing every day, tediously, for over a week, but most has melted each day and the biting easterlies have scoured away a lot of the rest. And on the bright side, the snowdrops are still looking wonderful!
If you like - and as it looks like you will be unwillingly absent from church at this high point of the liturgical year - I'll remember you to the Almighty in any services I get to this Holy Week. I know that you will be participating in spirit!
Our lane collects them, which is why, in our working days, we always used to move the cars to the junction with the council road, so that we could get out once the plough had been through. These days we just sit tight. :-)
DeleteWe've been watching the news from Arran and other places with great concern. Cold and deep snow are bad enough, but a prolonged power cut on top is very hard to deal with. It's certainly the west of the country which has borne the brunt of this snow and any remaining snowdrops are very well hidden.
Thank you so much for your kind offer. Yes, please - that would mean a great deal to me. I really don't see me getting to church any time soon.
It will by my pleasure to pray for you in our Holy Week services. I am glad to be able to help even a teeny bit, if not physically then spiritually at least. And I'm relieved to hear that you have stocks of wine and chocolate for the physical needs of Easter! ;)
DeleteThanks so much, DB, I very much appreciate that. There is no real sign of a thaw and indeed we had more light snow for much of the day today, so we will be here for a while yet. As for the wine and chocolate, one does have to mark the end of Lent appropriately. :-)
DeleteOh, my! That IS a lot of snow, Perpetua! I'm so sorry you're not able to attend Holy Week services, but staying cozy and warm with DH sounds like a blessing, too! May this be a wonderful, though unusual Holy Week for you!
ReplyDeleteAn exceptional amount for so late in the winter, Kathy, but still nowhere near as much as the worst-hit areas. Thank you for the good wishes. I think it will be a very peaceful and memorable Holy Week this year.
DeleteGood gracious, what a "pile of snow" you have there, Perpetua. While the drifts can be beautiful, they can also be very dangerous. I'm sure you are staying indoors, hunkering down, and getting weary of this long, long winter.
ReplyDeleteSome fierce snowstorms have hit a good part of the midwest and east, dumping snow the likes of what you have there. We missed most of it; just bitterly cold right now, although not unusual for March hereabouts. It's just been an odd, odd winter, hasn't it?
I hope you are cozy, warm, and set with provisions.
And getting bigger all the time, Penny. :-) The one in the orchard field was markedly more impressive this morning and I shall inspect the others later today.
DeleteI've been reading about the storms in the mid-west and having a lot of fellow-feeling for those coping with them. I know you need moisture, but this is a hard way to get it. Let's hope spring manages to break through soon. We're all so tired of the cold.
Plenty of provisions, thanks, and we're managing to keep warm too. :-)
Oh, boy. That's a LOT of snow. My three kids and dog will be on the next plane if they see your pictures- we haven't seen snow in ages. The environment around your home is beautiful - I'm looking forward to seeing spring pictures!
ReplyDeleteShow them the pictures on the BBC website and you won't see them for dust, MM. :-) The drifts are 6 or 7 metres deep in places further north and the snow keeps blowing back into the roads as they are cleared. In many ways we actually got off lightly.
DeleteSpring pictures will have to wait a while, but they'll be there if you can be patient. :-) Meanwhile a search on Wales will give you some to be going on with.....
We are fairly housebound again here as we've woken up to more snow and strong winds. It's a difficult time as the church schools our grandchildren go to and not local are supposed to be open and we are still on stand by not knowing if there will be a decision to close them. There are no buses in the hilly areas at the moment. However, we are warm and fed and we think of those like our daughter who have to brave the elements to get to essential work at hospitals etc. and for the homeless.
ReplyDeleteYet more snow? Poor Linda. We've been getting a few light flurries, but nothing to make a difference. But that wind....!! I'm sorry to hear your grandchildren's schools aren't among those already closed for the holidays. It just makes life yet more complicated for you all. Please give your daughter my best wishes and say I sympathise from long experience of struggling through adverse weather to get to work. Retirement is such a boon in bad weather.
DeleteHari Om
ReplyDeleteStrewth! I have memories (yes I really do) of 1963 and being stuck in snow drifts several miles off my grandfather's smallholding in the Scottish Borders. Uncle came in the tractor with bale fork to rescue us! That was around March if I'm not mistaken. 50 year cycle? Your stance is a fine one. Take it as it comes for it's all part of His tapestry. &>
Oh, I too remember the winter of 62-63, though nothing as dramatic as being rescued by tractor happened to us. Just months of struggling through ice and snow to get to the village to catch the bus to and from school. The first snow fell on Christmas night and it was still snowing and piling up in March.
DeleteRetirement has released the new philosophical me. :-) Now I really do try to take things as they come and see the best in them.
We don't currently have lying snow within Prague itself at present Perpetua, though away from the city, on higher ground, they do & the ski resorts in the mountains aren't complaining :-) But what we do have, like you, is this bitter, strong east wind & we are far closer to Siberia where it's coming from :-(
ReplyDeleteOff to what will be a very chilly Old Catholic Cathedral for their Chrism Eucharist this evening & hoping that more snow, which is forecast for Wednesday & Thursday, doesn't interfere with our Maundy Thursday, Good Friday & Easter Day services.
Trusting that your central heating & septic tank continue to function well in these conditions. Any progress with your hearing?
Brrr!! It does sound cold with you, Ricky. I've heard the same from my German friend in Hamburg - no snow and indeed bright and sunny, but an icy easterly wind. I do hope the forecast snow doesn't make life too difficult for you this week. Here the forecast is just for the cold weather to go on and on, until well after Easter at least. Sigh.... No public Holy Week and Easter observances for me this year.
DeleteThe septic tank is buried under snow but we're managing and we have heating. :-) My appointment yesterday to have my ears syringed had of course to be cancelled, so my hearing is less than optimal, but it really does seem to be wax at the root of the problem. At the moment it;'s the right ear which is fuzzy. :-)
I'm glad to read that you are well-stocked-up and ready for the possibility of being snowed in for a while longer. It's hard to think of not getting out to church for all the Easter services, but best to stay safe!
ReplyDeleteLuckily the weather forecasters were already alerting us to the possibility of snow when I went shopping, so I stocked up. We may need to make it last longer than anticipated, but we'll be OK, thanks. Sadly getting out is absolutely not possible, unless by helicopter, so we're staying snug at home. :-)
DeleteLike our childhood winters on the Lancashire moors Perpetua. Bare fields and snow filled lanes! You will remember the three mile trudge up the hill to get home from our Grammar School when the bus could not run.
ReplyDeleteAnd in even earlier days the emergency rations for lunch at our village school when they could not deliver the hot school lunches - Heinz tomato soup, cream crackers, Dairylea processed cheese triangles then tinned fruit and Carnation evapourated milk - the taste of nostalgia!
My legs are aching at the memory, PolkaDot. :-) We've done the same up from the village here (less than 2 miles but far enough) lots of times in our younger days, but having reached years of discretion, we're not even contemplating making the attempt.
DeleteHow odd! I simply can't remember the emergency rations, even though I must have eaten them on plenty of occasions and enjoyed them more than some of the hot lunches, which weren't always very appetising after being kept warm so long. Memory plays strange tricks......
Can't resist adding to this conversation, if I may: only because I was comparing notes with a friend on just such subjects on Monday. She remembered that, when the school lunches couldn't be delivered through the snow to her primary school in rural Angus (this would be in the early 60s I'd guess) the teacher would serve up tinned tomato soup and slices of corned beef. Their milk would be sat on top of the wood stove in the schoolroom to defrost by lunchtime. Disgusting, apparently. :)
DeleteI love it when poeple join in like this. It all adds to the fun and satisfaction of blogging. :-) I still can't call to mind the emergency lunches, but I do remember the luke-warm milk. Our head teacher would put the crate next to the radiator first thing in the morning, so that it would be nicely (or nastily) warm by break time. As you know, drinking cold milk in the middle of winter would give you a chill on your stomach. ;-)
DeleteThat is spectacular. I wish you a Happy Easter even if you cannot celebrate as you would like. As long as you have food and warm and good company, you can celebrate it together. :)
ReplyDeleteAnd looking even more spectacular today, as the drifts have grown again overnight. :-) A very happy Easter to you too. It will be unusual this year, but still as special as ever.
DeleteI really don't envy you. I know snow looks very pretty but it's really not pleasant. So glad you have heat and food and are safe and warm until you can venture out again xx
ReplyDeleteThanks, Ayak. Yes, it's beautiful, and for us mildly inconvenient, but for some it's proving very much worse. Thousands are still without power in places and the plight of livestock in the drifted fields is now desperate. I've added a couple of links at the bottom of my last post on this.
DeleteWow that looks cold. Stay in and stay warm. Think of the grass you don't have to cut.
ReplyDeleteHi Claire-Louise and welcome to my blog. Yes, it really is cold and looks like staying that way for a while. Even when the grass is visible it won't need cutting, as it hasn't yet started to grow again since the autumn. Small mercies, I suppose....
DeleteLovely. Stay warm.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Sally. We are doing just that and I'm knitting more socks just in case. :-)
DeleteBest wishes for a peaceful Easter. It can’t be anything else, we’d have to be able to move to get to the outside or for the outside to come to us.
ReplyDeleteExactly, Friko. We just have to stand back from the world until we can rejoin it. A peaceful Easter to you too.
DeleteSeasons Greetings to you and your family P. Take care and keep warm. God bless.
ReplyDeletePatricia x
Thanks, Patricia and the same to you. We're being very careful as everything keeps refreezing, so we venture out with great caution. :-)
DeleteI'm sorry to think you might be snowed in for Easter, Perpetua. A very early Easter is quite inconvenient for you, isn't it! I am sure you'll be warm and toasty at home and can be mindful of the Easter celebration from home, but it would be very different when you are typically so engaged with your Parish. I wonder if everyone will need to stay home and curled up by a fire! Debra
ReplyDeleteI don't think there's any doubt we'll still be snowed-in, Debra, not only for Easter but until it stops freezing hard every night. We're warm enough, thanks, though I doubt our family and friends would ever describe our old stone house as toasty. :-) I think life down in the valley is probably continuing reasonably normally, but so many people live up in the hills down narrow lanes and that's why the problems come when it snows. Still, it's definitely something to tell the grandsons. :-)
DeleteIt's regrettably that something which can look so beautiful can wreak such havoc., isn't it? I do hope things improve for you soon, weather wise, and sorry you will be snowed in for Easter, or so it seems!
ReplyDeleteYes, it's very much a case of deadly beauty at the moment and for some time to come, I fear. At 1000' and with so much snow cover the temperature is barely rising above freezing all day, so any thaw is infinitesimally slow, before it all freezes again overnight. Sigh... Our nice new car is safely undercover and staying there for a while. Still, we have wine and chocolate, so Easter will me marked with food too. :-)
DeleteYou really have been having quite a rough winter and we are in spring! It did get cold here yesterday morning with some snow. It was like some flour sprinkled on the cars but 15 minutes later it had melted. That’s the only snow we have seen this year here near Atlanta – there was a bit more in the North Georgia Mountains. It will be hard for the little kids to go and hunt for Easter eggs in your town! Stay inside safe – spring will be coming sooner or later in your area.
ReplyDeleteIndeed we have, especially this last month or more of very cold weather with an icy and penetrating easterly wind and then all the snow. As I look out at the white fields and yet more icicles hanging from the roof, it's good to know that spring has arrived with you in Georgia and really will arrive here someday. I think Easter eggs will have to be hidden round the house this year. :-)
DeleteGosh! Looks as if we had more snow but less drifting. But 5 miles up the road from here they had fifteen foot drifts! Our snow is melting away now, how about yours?
ReplyDeleteI think you had a lot more snow, but were more sheltered from the wind so that it didn't pile up so much. Our lane is very exposed to the east and fills up between the hedges when the wind's from that direction. A slow thaw now in the middle of the day - very slow. :-(
DeleteAMEN!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteYes, indeed. We've been very fortunate compared to many others.
DeleteDear Perpetua, you have food and power and each other. And that pretty well sums up for me what Easter is about. I recall the breaking of bread at a meal at Emmaus and the power of belief that we are united as One and the love shared by Yeshua with all those he met. To each he was the one who brought acceptance of foible and flaw and to each he was the home they sought. I wonder if the snow is melting now and you will be able to celebrate Easter Sunday with the whole community. But what I know is that in your own home you are One with all of us. Peace.
ReplyDeleteDee, I am answering your comment while drinking a cup of tea and eating one of the hot cross buns I baked yesterday for Good Friday and thinking myself very fortunate to be able to do so.
DeleteI love your reminder of the meal at Emmaus and your wonderful words about the love and acceptance of Yeshua. It makes me want to read your novel even more, as you must describe him very powerfully in it.
As for the snow, it's melting very slowly during the day and then freezing hard again at night, so we're still blocked in by considerable drifts. It's almost unheard of for us to get so much snow for so long at the end of March.