Winter Beauty: Wind, Snow, Fallen Trees, Waiting for Spring + the slow return of the Sun

on

A sunny blue sky day looking from the moving car across a wide open smooth snow covered field, nearly glowing where the sun hits areas previously partly melted. Midway across the image, the field is broken by a fence line with a scattered line of bare silhouetted poplar trees outlined against snow and sky. Beyond is another semi-shiny snowy field with a bit more texture, bordered in the distance by dark woodland. The text: Winter Beauty: wind snow fallen trees; slow return of the sun; Waiting for Spring; Meteņi; cohan magazine- appears, some in bold text, some finer, alternating between ice white and an icey blue. The image is framed in white.

 

We were forecast a La Niña winter: a bit snowier and colder than average for this region. It didn't happen. Early snowfalls were not that early, cold spells not that cold,  then a long mild mostly snowfree period. Then ups and downs as we always have here, but snow on the ground has been maybe half to two thirds average, and our coldest nights in the -30 Celsius/-22F range, when extreme nights could have been below -40C/F.

Looking across a snowy pasture with a dugout (man-made cattle watering hole) in the foreground, at this season it is just a depression, with bits of dry grass sticking through the snow, snowy ground marked with wind smoothed cattle tracks and blue shadows. Farther back tracks are fresher and we see the back end of one cow by a hay feeding station, just visible at the edge of an upright board wind fence that extends to the left. To the right in the middle distance we see an area of low dark willows that extends all the way across the image. Beyond is higher ground with another snowy pasture with asingle copse of bare poplars at left. The wind is blowing snow along this ground seeming to blend with a band of very active looking low clouds right along horizon- swirling, blending, blowing, probably carrying snow flurries. Above the sky is sunny blue with a few racing clouds and the sun is just above mid left coming through a light cloud.



Then came late January: still no serious cold or large amounts of snow, but we had some very windy days. That meant blowing snow, so poor driving visibility (happily I wasn't on the road at the worst times) drifts on roads and- most relevant to me, trees down! Nothing in any damaging or inconvenient spots on the acreage and farm, but at least a half dozen in various areas where I harvest firewood, and most of them actually good wood. Some standing dead trees can be quite decayed and very light/too fast burning, these are okay for getting fires going well, but have no staying power. Others can actually be sort of rotten/wet/heavy, not good for burning. Of course live trees that fall will be green and need some drying before burning. This time there were a few light/dry ones, but most have actually been dry but not decayed- good solid stuff that burns well and long. Wind Mother and Forest Mother have been very kind to me. At the end of last winter I was struggling to find good stuff to cut, this year I have a decent stockpile of cut and semi-cut wood, and more fallen ones still to get to. I've been able to take quite a few days off from cutting wood when it's been cold or snowy. 

Foreground is a snowy wetland area, partially clear with small willow stems and grasses poking through the roughly knee depth snow. Mid way in is a low lumpy brush pile with willows a few meters high rising from and behind it. Farther back mixed woods, starting with low willows then taller birches, and tall spruce and poplars behind. The sun is shining through thin cloud just above a bit of thicker cloud visible just above the trees. There is some blue sky between the two cloud types, and the sun is making subtle rainbow light flares in the camera lens.



Here are some videos from this time. These are on YouTube, at the end of the blog, as usual, I will include links for Spectra/Peertube for those who prefer a non-corporate host.

'Wind! Change in Weather Mid-January'



'After the Wind: Trees Down= More Firewood'



'A Little Winter Drama: Sun, Wind, Snow, Sunset-Awesome Alberta Day!'


'Snow Flurries in the Boreal Forest-Heading to Cut Firewood'



February has me wondering if La Niña has finally arrived- nothing extreme but we've been below average for the first couple of weeks, probably lasting till the third week at least, with some nights to -35C/-31F some days -25C/-13F. No records, but cold.And snow- only modest amounts, but many days with fresh snow. I don't long for more snow shovelling, but the snow is an important part of our annual precipitation, with a significant role in recharging wetlands, so I welcome it at the same time as I grumble.

We are standing on a bush road- a mostly undeveloped roadway through field and woodland on the farm. Here the snow-covered road, with snow ploughed to one side from earlier snow over the season, gently curves across a wide open area of wetland edge. To the right, mostly out of sight, is a strip of woodland, to the left wetland, some open grassy with willows ahead on the left which hide the road's curve. Straight ahead is a patch of mixed woods with poplars and spruce, some quite old/large. The ground is nearly smooth white, the trees all quite heavily frosted and snow coated, varying with exposure from white through silver and pewter to some darker lightly frosted spruce.



Video: '-25C/-13F Walk in the Frosty Woods'



In the first or second week of February, we reach the Cross-quarter Day, midway between Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox. I've been learning more about these dates, and realised that the exact calculation is a bit complicated, and celebration dates are often fixed to work with beginnings or endings of months, Christian saint days or other convenient calendar points. That's all fine, I guess, absent an active community to calculate dates and co-ordinate observances, for me it is more a gradual shift in season than a moment. I'll make my observations, photos, videos in nature over a period of days with this shift in mind. At times when I actually do any rituals or other celebrations, I'll do it when work schedules and weather permit. So, I'm okay with some fuzziness around the date. Traditionally Latvians celebrate this late winter date, Metenis or Meteņi (from an ancient word suggesting this was originally a New Year celebration), around February 6, though some observances have it varying/later, tied to the dates for Easter etc. The British Imbolc is February 01. This year I think the actual cross-quarter was February 9.
Latvians believe the longer Meteņi is celebrated, the better the harvest will be, so even more of a reason not to worry too much about the date- just go on celebrating!(eating lots/treats are also part of it-okay!)

Here's another blog post specifically on Metenis/ Meteņi


The sun doing a decent impression of the full moon as a near perfect disk is visible, glowing near white through a thin patch in wispy variable grey overcast.


I've usually felt Imbolc was a bit too springy for this climate- though they don't necessarily consider it to be actual spring, they talk about green things, catkins, flowering Snowdrops etc. Those are still quite distant ideas here, where weather can be variable as always in early February, but the main sign of the shift in season is lengthening days and strengthening sun. Latvians call this 'Waiting for Spring' and traditional activities included things like sledding (the longer and faster the ride, the better the harvest). I suspect with climate change, the Metenis in Latvia is looking more like Imbolc, but here spring is definitely something to be waited for, no signs of it yet!




A snowy undeveloped roadway to right, with tire tracks worn into the snow curves from lower right thenup through the centre of the image, disappearing over a slight rise. Dry grass etc sticks up through the snow here and there, becoming a solid looking golden brown mass to the left in front ofa line of bare poplars extending up along the road allowance.They are coated in frost and snow which has caught the coral tint of the sunset out of sight behind the photographer. To the right a more open band extends along a wire and post fence and a row of power poles and electric lines follows the same route; a snowy pasture is to the right, farther away more trees. They sky is lightly overcast with bits of blue showing through.


Video: 'Winter Sun-Waiting for Spring- Halfway to Equinox'



Whatever season you may be in as you read this, I hope it is a beautiful one for you. May we continue to learn the lessons of the natural world and continue to be its champions in difficult times. May you find solace, inspiration and strength in the beauty and rhythms of nature.

Looking up at the tops of a couple of poplar trees and a couple of spruce. It's just on the verge of sunset and there is the faintest hint of coral on the thick frost and fresh snow coating the branches and twigs. The poplar in front has some bits of dried leaves and probably buds for the season to come- these have gathered the crystals extra thickly, giving it almost the appearance of a tree in flower, suggesting perhaps the delicate tracery of ancient Asian paintings of spring trees in blossom.

Here are the links to the videos on Spectra ( a non-corporate owned Fediverse video hosting platform, connected to Mastodon, Pixelfed etc)







As always, you can find me on 

I'd love to hear your thoughts and comments on any of those platforms. As for anyone else, if you enjoy my videos, your comments, likes and subscriptions on YouTube are helpful.
If you are able and would  like to support me, I have a Ko-fi page;  support helps me keep working-more research, more writing, more art!


Comments

Post a Comment