Tag Archives: snow
Waiting
Friends and family south of us are sharing photos of flowers and trees blooming. It’s a full out celebrations of spring down there. It snowed again here this morning; not a blizzard but enough for us to realize winter still has us held hostage.
Remnants of last year
Katie and I explored the yard today, checking for signs of life. She sniffed for spring while I pulled some grass from the perennial bed, felt the wet earth between my fingers, plucked a seed head from last year’s bee balm and crumbled it. The aroma of last summer’s blossoms was faint but distinctive.
Deep beneath the winter debris of leaves and mulch are tucked the beginning of this season’s sedum. And over by the fence hidden under last year’s ornamental grass is the bright green of poppy foliage.
Hope emerges
I wondered. Could it be that back behind the house there might be a surprise waiting? It’s Easter today, and yes it snowed. But look at the solitary snowdrop we found hiding behind the house.
Proof blooms
It’s snow of a different kind and proof winter is relinquishing it’s hold. So much hope manifested in such a tiny blossom. Spring has begun.
Even here.
Pre-poppy
Ephemeral II
Mall walking
I hate to think I’m old enough to enjoy mall walking. Have you ever tried it? In the middle of a Michigan winter (or a Michigan spring apparently) I can walk as many miles as I want, inside, with pretty things to look at, carpet and hardwood under my feet, upbeat music playing and no rain or snow falling on my head. Perfect!
I had pictures all set for this blog, taken on my camera this morning. But I can’t figure out how to download them so you’ll just have to imagine. It won’t be that difficult, a mall is a mall, right? Ours happens to be built in a racetrack oval, so if you walk around the outside edges including the halls out to the exterior doors you’ll do a mile each revolution. Did I mention how perfect this is?
There’s a regular crowd at the mall early, long before the stores open and the shoppers arrive. They hang their coats on the long line of rentable strollers and head off. Some move fast, some move slower. There’s a man who shuffles, head down, leaning heavily on his cane, but he’s there every single time I’ve been there. There are women in pairs, talking away as they racewalk, groups of guys talking just as much, moving fast, and lots of individuals as well, arms pumping, shoes slapping the miles away.
And there is one couple I always look for. They move at a medium steady pace. He wears a big floppy hat, her hair is pulled back in a pony tail, and their hands are always connected. I’ve seen them around town too. In the summer as I drive to work I’ll see them out on the sidewalks of the village, hands clasped, moving out before the summer heat descends. We even saw them one Sunday afternoon at a play in Detroit years ago. The man noticed me and nodded hello, I smiled back.
A month or so ago I saw him walking at the mall alone. He had his hat on, which is what always catches my eye, but his head was down, he wasn’t looking at anyone. And he was moving fast. Just a fluke I thought. But I was worried.
The next weekend there he was again, alone, head down, cruising around the mall. We were going opposite directions and I almost turned around to catch up and ask him why he was walking alone. But I decided I didn’t want to intrude. But now I was really worried.
Then two weeks went by and he wasn’t at the mall at all. It didn’t feel right, and I felt sad, sure that something terrible had happened.
This morning I was thinking about him and his wife as I started my walk. Half way around I saw the hat first, then the clasped hands. They were there. Together. I had the biggest grin on my face as we met going in opposite directions. He raised his other hand in acknowledgement, and I said Good Morning!
The rest of my two loop walk felt really good. He’ll never know how worried I was, but I bet I’m not the only one that is glad they’re back in the routine.
Funny how a little mall walking makes you feel so good. Pretty soon it will be warm enough to walk outside and I’ll be glad to be out in the fresh air again. But I’ll miss seeing and waving to my regulars out at the mall.
I hope they’re all there again next winter; especially the hand holding couple from the village.
They make me believe in happily ever after.
Wordless Wednesday
Amy, I wish I’d met you
Amy. Twenty-seven, pretty, interesting, artistic, and by the looks of pictures on her Facebook page and blog, always smiling. I hear she was getting married in May. I never met her, never read her blog or asked her to friend me on Facebook. She was the friend and fellow blogger of a blogger friend of mine. Social media certainly makes the world smaller, and yesterday evening when my friend posted a short piece about Amy leaving a hole in her heart, about how she would be missing her friend, I wondered, so I clicked the link to Amy’s blog. There was a recent post and nothing seemed amiss. That made me wonder more so I started searching for information on Amy and her city. I found a short, one paragraph article about a six vehicle pileup with one fatality. A female.
And I knew.
Today, almost exactly 24 hours after that crash I read an article that included parts of the initial police report. All six vehicles were being merged into the left lane by State Police because of an accident up ahead. Amy was driving third in line behind two SUVs. There was a pickup behind her and behind that vehicle were two semi trucks. Amy and the two vehicles ahead of her had moved over to the left lane and slowed. The pickup behind her was in the process of moving over and had slowed. The semi behind the pickup tried to move over but couldn’t slow down fast enough, and hit the pickup, spinning it into the median. The semi behind the semi involved in the first crash hit that first semi, then slammed into Amy’s car, spinning it, then rammed into it again, on the driver’s side door, bounced off of her car, and hit each of the two vehicles ahead of Amy, then ran up an embankment and hit the bridge.
How fast do you think that second semi had to have been going to hit the first semi, Amy’s car twice, two other cars and still make it up the embankment to strike the cement bridge? It was snowing yesterday afternoon, terrible weather they say. I’m sure the truck drivers will use the weather card while explaining the reason they couldn’t control their vehicles. But these are professional drivers. We expect more from them. They, of all drivers, should know that bad weather requires everyone, especially big heavy trucks, to slow down. If that second truck had been going slower he might have run into the back of the first semi, but would he have hit Amy twice?
Amy, just like my father who was killed in a crash almost identical, absent the snow, did nothing wrong. She successfully slowed and merged. She had nowhere to go. She was killed because someone else made a mistake. And it’s a mistake that is happening across this country every single day. Four thousand people die in crashes with commercial trucks every year. Yesterday Amy was one of them.
I thought about Amy all day today. And as I drove home into a sky going purple with evening I thought about her family, her boyfriend, the wedding that won’t be, the future that ended so abruptly, the art she won’t make, the children she won’t have. I didn’t realize I was crying for her until I tasted my tears.
I became involved with the Truck Safety Coalition when my dad was killed. We offer comfort and information to families who have suffered the unthinkable. I know right now Amy’s family is reeling with grief. Her friends are in shock. Her fiance is in a black hole. I know this is not the time they want to think about what they should be doing to preserve evidence, what they will need to fight for justice for Amy. But they need to know. I wish I could hold them all in a big hug and gently help them through these first horrible days, weeks, months. Years.
I might never get to do that. But I do want them to know that when I’m working on these issues, when I’m in DC talking to elected officials and agencies and reporters I’ll be holding Amy in my heart right next to my dad. Amy has given me one more reason not to give up.
Amy. I wish I had met you. But you can be sure that I’m not going to forget you. The work we do to advance safety on our roads is done to honor Amy and my dad, and all the others killed and injured in crashes with commercial trucks. We are their voices and we are not going away.
Rest in peace Amy. The world is a little less special without you.
I can see that. Even though I never met you.
Wordless Wednesday
WordPress photo challenge: Symmetry
If you go to the original post you’ll see inspirational photo which is gorgeous…and looks just like shots we took of a similar fort in Maine this past summer. Friday I had lots of ideas about things to photograph that show symmetry. I had plans for heading out on Monday, a holiday from work, to see what I could see. But it’s 5 degrees Fahrenheit (-15C) right now and it’s going to get colder the rest of this long weekend and the wind is blowing making it even worse. So it’s very possible I won’t be going anywhere. I figured this would be yet another photo challenge that I missed because I just can’t get out of the house with my camera.
Then I looked out my kitchen window, watching the wind whip snow across the back yard. And I saw it.
Alien?
I have no idea what sort of animal would make tracks like this. It looks like a giant turtle pulled itself up to the bird feeder and then back out to the woods. But it’s certainly not turtle weather at the moment. Here’s a closer image. What do you think made these?
Two aliens
Maybe it was Winnie the Pooh’s mysterious Heffalump, but whatever it was I like the symmetry.
The wind has now covered up the tracks; I was lucky to notice it when I did. If you’d like to see some other images of symmetry, try here, here, here and here. Or go to the original post and look at all that have been submitted so far. The challenge lasts for a week, so check there again later and you’ll see even more!
What’s symmetric in your life? I hope it’s a warmer image than mine. I, for one, am thoroughly done with all the winter snow and wind. I’d like to photograph a symmetric field of corn or the symmetry of a dahlia blossom. I might still go and try to find some colorful symmetry. We’ll see.
How about you? Can you find a bit of symmetry somewhere around you?
Wordless Wednesday
Change Is Hard 