Winter Gardening

Nathan and Lindsay are both feeling better today. Naturally, this makes Pa and me both very happy. Thanks to the weather, the kids are even happier about their recovery than they might be otherwise.

This morning the kids awoke to a light dusting of snow on the ground. While neither of them thought it enough to bother going out to play in, they did agree it was exciting just to see it there, especially considering how close to Christmas it is.

By the time I got up, the snow was still decorating the ground, but the cloouds had parted, leaving patches of blue in the sky. Within the hour though, the blue had disappeared, and the snow was rapidly disappearing as well, being replaced, and overtaken by another white substance. It was hailing, and this was not a short burst of hail either. No, this downpour of icy pelts lasted a good hour, before being joined by rain, and then snow mixed in with that. It has been a most interesting weather day! The hail comes down, making everything white, then rain with more hail, and snow, and more of all of the above, being accompanied on occasion by bursts of wind, which causes the icy pellets to reveal their sting.

Although Nathan was excited by the sight of all the white stuff, he was also a bit unnerved, realizing this may signify the end of any hope for his garden to make it through the winter this year. All was not lost though. He decided to make the best of the situation.

Currently, the sky is once again showing us some blue. It's quite cold outside, but clear, so the kids are taking advantage of their limited cold weather wear, including their gloves. Nathan's garden has been transformed into a winter wonderland of sorts, or, at least as close to a winter wonderland as we're likely to experience where we live...


If you look closely, you can see the green ears, on top of the snowman's (actually, a combo of hail and snow)head.Those are radish tops. The eyes are radishes, and at the base of the snowman, you can see where the snowman's nose, a carrot has fallen. Naturally, all the snowman's vegetable features were harvested from Nathan's garden, where the snowman resides until his classic "Frosty" demise.

Who knows, whether it be by snow or by hail, maybe, just maybe, we'll actually manage a white Christmas this year!

Granted, I'm not planning to hold my breath, but I figure a couple crossed fingers can't hurt ;-)