Winter Has Come

We had a brutal winter last year.  Colder, snowier, longer than most.  Spring was cold, wet, but mostly cold.  Summer was cooler than normal.  Then Autumn arrived, and it was beautiful!  Sunny, above average warm days.  Could it be possible that we were coming out of the colder than average polar vortex?  Nope.  Winter has come.  Snow and days that are more than 20 degrees below average. REALLY?  I guess it's time to find the long underwear.  Time to focus on the beauty around us.  This tree is in the neighbors backyard, I love the sunshine on the berries.

Our High School football team is playing in the State tournament.  We went to the quarter final play-off game last Friday.  It's strange to watch football now that we only know a couple of the players names.  Things have changed a lot since Billy played two years ago!  I'd see a familiar number and think...nice hit Alex!  Way to go Tyler!  And then I'd remember that the jersey's were the same but the players aren't.  A stark reminder that no matter how good you were, there is always someone else ready to step up and fill your shoes.  Or your jersey. Gotta keep moving forward!

We spent some time on the farm on Saturday, mowing and raking and getting my mom's place ready for winter.  Good thing we got there when we did, they got over a foot of snow a few days later!  I'm glad that the horses winter coats have come in!

I took this picture the day before it snowed.  A few maple leaves hanging on.

We knew that the snow was coming, they were predicting a huge amount of snow for our area, so we took a trip to the grocery store.  Along with everyone else in the town!  It wasn't super crowded when we went, it was later in the day, but man things were picked over!  The check out guy told Eric that at one point, all of the shopping carts were in use.  I think that he said they have 250 carts.  Yikes, that's a lot of shoppers.

We were able to get everything we needed, including some pink Gerbera daisies.  Yes, a person "needs" pretty flowers when a storm is coming!  They give me something to look at so I can ignore what's going on outside!

Well, the snow did come, but not nearly as much as was predicted.  Apparently it took a more northerly trek.  We got a few inches, my mom got over a foot.  Funny what a difference 70 miles can make where the weather is concerned.  Our neighbors house always looks pretty, no matter what the weather.

But I prefer to look at the flowers....and ignore the weather. Winter is here, before Thanksgiving.  I'm going to focus on being grateful.  I'm thankful for a warm house and pretty flowers to look at.

I hope that it's warmer in your neck of the woods.  And if it's not, I hope you have some pretty flowers near by so you can ignore the cold!  Thanks for stopping by!