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Snow muffles our noisy world. Falling snowflakes seem to absorb all sound and the world is hushed.
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The normal routine is put on hold.
School buses and garbage trucks don’t churn through the neighborhood streets today. Leaf blowers and lawn mowers remain silent.
Traffic has come to rest at home in snowy driveways.
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We all took a snow day today. Schools were closed everywhere from Roanoke to the Eastern Shore.
Many businesses closed or reduced their hours today, and I believe most of us were content to stay at home and keep warm against the January chill.
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I kept vigil, much of the day, watching out of our windows as fine snow filled the air and accumulated, ever so slowly, on leaf and ground, rail and table, car and walkway.
It was late afternoon before our wet patio was finally cloaked in whiteness.
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It was a quiet day for reading, for finally getting to that long put off project, and for wandering the snowy garden, camera in hand, in search of that quintessential image of Silence.
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And what I noticed today, is that silence is visual as well as auditory.
A snowy day transforms the most casual image into sepia tones blanketed in white. Our garden’s colors are silenced by the cold and muffled under snow.
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There is a reason we yearn so for ‘peace and quiet.’
Today has brought the blessings of silence and the rare gift of peace, wrapped in a snow-globe world of white.
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Woodland Gnome 2018
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“We can make our minds so like still water
that beings gather about us
that they may see, it may be, their own images,
and so live for a moment with a clearer,
perhaps even with a fiercer life
because of our quiet.”
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W.B. Yeats
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For the Daily Post’s
Weekly Photo Challenge: Silence
Forest Garden 
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You described my favorite moments of new fallen snow. It may sound weird, but I’m sad we most likely will not have that kind of silence here this winter. However… I often feel similar sensations when rains come after a too long dry spell.
Thank you, Jane. Falling snow and falling rain cleanse and clear and make the world feel refreshed. Nature ‘s pause button 😊. But I do hope that you get snow, too.
Me too! My daughter bought our grand daughter a snow suit for Christmas… I hope we get to put it to use sledding and building snowpeople
Absolutely! I’ve heard that it has been in the mid-60s on the coast of Oregon last week. Not very encouraging for snow lovers. Little ones grow so fast- I hope you get at least one good snow so your granddaughter can wear her snow suit, and you can get photos of her. Do you tend to get early spring snows there? Ours often come in March…. just when things are budding out and you dread a freeze.
It’s actually good I’m behind on replying… There is snow in the forecast! We probably won’t see any accumulation, but it’s fun to imagine. Yes, as you can see, we do get late winter snow (in theory right now, since it hasn’t happened yet!)
Yes, I’ve been hearing all about the snow forecast from my daughter. She told me that they haven’t had a single freezing night until now, and they expect freezing temps a couple of nights this week. That is an unusually warm January, isn’t it? We have an 80F day coming up mid-week in our forecast! Trees are beginning to bud out, and we picked our first daffodil on Thursday 😉 Trust you are well. Hope you and yours enjoy the watching the snow<3 ❤ ❤
Snow dusting again last night. Maybe a bit more dusting on Thursday. That’s rare for us… but… 80F for you is worrisome 😬
Yes- daytime and night time high records will likely be broken all along the Atlantic coast this week. We had 80s last February, followed by several hard freezes and more snow in March. It wreaked havoc on so many shrubs and trees as those tender buds were blasted.
We sure are trying Mother Nature’s patience…
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