Friday, December 19, 2008

doesn't take much

Good morning. It's been a 'weather' week here which means we've had some snow and more is in the forecast. What would be normal or hardly noticeable in places where I spent most of my life shuts down Portland.

Yesterday when I came home for lunch the woods behind our place had been transformed by another brief squall that morning. The sun was shining and our usually moss covered winter glade took on a magical sparkle.

I'll leave to your imagination pictures of uncleared roads, stuck buses and people slipping and sliding on icy sidewalks. This moment was worth the inconvenience of living so close to my work that I never have snow as an excuse to stay home.

15 comments:

  1. Lucky you. It's snowing hard here in New York. I work 40 miles from home, take a train to work, and will be in the City until late tonight at holiday parties hosted by my office and a good friends. I'm in for an adventure.

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  2. Maryland and DC are like Portland...an inch or so of snow, and the entire place comes to a screeching halt.

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  3. What a lovely shot. That's why I love winter, not because of Spartacian (Spartacusian?) adventuring. Dude, you should buy a tractor. ;-)

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  4. spartacus - If you consume enough Christmas cheer this evening the slipping and sliding back to the train should provide some fun. I'll just pray the engineer is a teetotaler.

    cdp - The tv weather folks just make things worse by scaring people. Of course, it's the only time of year anybody pays attention to them so they get giddy.

    randal - That's something I'd love to see - Spartacus driving a tractor across the Brooklyn Bridge. Makes me feel like drawing a picture :-)

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  5. That photo looks like a setting for one of your paintings. Where is the unicorn?:-)

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  6. there's the true beauty of oregon: the water. the soft spongy mosses, the gray skies, the soft rain (which can be calming), the carpet of leaves and needles deep enough to walk noiselessly. it sounds like heaven. if you don't have to drive.

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  7. lbr - What? You mean you can't see him? I swear he was right there last time I looked.

    sera - Late in the summer we took a walk in those soft, quiet woods where we were nearly attacked by a pair of snarling dobermans. Their owner said, 'Sorry, but you're on their private path.' We hadn't seen any signs saying 'Property of loose mad dogs'. I prefer looking at the woods from my little balcony now.

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  8. That's really beautiful, Susan. I'm just happy to view from this safe distance.

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  9. What a lovely surprise for me to find I've been looking at only one of your blogs, and the more frequent blog, with the COLOR illustrations was the one I was missing. I'll be going way back on this one, soaking up these images.

    It's like finding buried treasure, all these posts piled up and I haven't seen any yet...

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  10. dcup - I'm happy viewing it from the safe distance of my chair near the window with a cup of tea and a book.. chocolates are good too ;-)

    steve - That's pretty funny. I thought you weren't particularly interested in my paintings and that's why you'd never left any comments. Phantsy is indeed the main blog and I hope you enjoy checking it out when you have some free time from your own terrific work.

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  11. We have about a foot of snow here in Massachusetts and more is predicted for tomorrow. I've been sick and have not ventured outside but it looks very dreamy out there.

    Your dusting is more to my liking. I'm not into winter and the older I get, the worse my aversion becomes.

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  12. pagan sphinx - My son still lives in RI so I heard about the first winter storm there. I hope you're feeling better and able to get around again.

    We're having one of those very rare events in that it hasn't stopped snowing yet in a place that's not prepared to cope. There's so much packed ice our little car couldn't make it up the steep hill from the garage. We're stuck til it rains.

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  13. I lived in the Pacific North West as a child, but I sure don't remember snow. I did love the forests though, the smell of green is what I remember most. Lovely photo. Glad you have that balcony from which to view YOUR FOREST. I'd have engaged in a loud argument with the doberman man about whose forest it actually was.

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  14. utah - We've been here 15 winters now and I've never seen anything like this before. The woods back there are part of canyons that can't be built on but Portland used to be call Stumptown because every tree in the area was logged early on. The paths are narrow, overgrown and precipitous but since I'd had dental surgery three days earlier (prep for upper implants) I didn't want anybody to see me. I was too much of a wreck to yell but my husband got the message across.

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  15. The inclement weather has not stopped you from selecting and matching some exquisite prose and writings in your previous posts and photos which I have only just read since I have been enjoying a short break amongst the rainforests, birds, and animals near the sea.
    Best wishes

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