Saturday 19 January 2013

Snow and Silence

Hi, I took a drive out to the country today to see how work is progressing on the two small houses on the same largish property in the country that a friend and I are having renovated (more here). Things are moving along relatively smoothly so all's well there.

Having checked the work there wasn't much else to do elsewhere and outside because it has snowed recently and the ground is frozen. So I took a few pictures because the snow looked pretty out there in the fields. Here are three of them.

 This was taken from the terrace of one of the houses. Garden in front of it, veggie garden next, behind the first fence, and there will probably be a couple of donkeys in the field beyond that. It all looked so peaceful and there wasn't a sound to be heard anywhere in the cold thin air....


Here's a view over to the left. The rather ramshackle outhouses (want of a better word?) were chicken coops in the past and there's a lot of clearing up to do both in and around them. One of them shall be welcoming new chickens and fresh eggs when the big move from Lyon comes, towards next summer. There's a field on the far side of the coops, its future use as yet undecided.


As I said earlier, it was quite cold although at -5C it was bearable but still, it was cold enough to freeze the water dripping down off a disused rain gutter. I took this photo because I liked the various shades and qualities of the blacks and whites and greys. The gutter, the bushes, the sky, the snow, the translucent icicle...


I know there are many more colours to be seen during spring, summer and autumn, much more life and energy too, but I appreciate the sort of solitary peace and calm that winter imposes and that nature must wait through patiently while winter does its cold, hard and lonely work of quietly preparing the land to receive each new year's plants and crops.....




4 comments:

  1. I checked the earlier post and the views are really gorgeous. I am a country girl myself so I understand why you would want to live there.
    I think it is a good thing both of you will be neighbors to take care of the animals and the house when one is away. Very smart arrangement!
    It is 27 C today in Los Angeles. I cannot tell you how good the sun feels. I would not be able to live in a cold climate anymore. No way! I enjoy the beauty of snowy landscapes... but not me in it.

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  2. That does look cold and isolĂ©. I like the snow and the peace it brings but I also don’t think I could live in it for long. We had snow here, two years ago, just for 3 days. It snowed, then it froze. It looked like marshmallow everywhere. It was so beautiful but dangerous. Of course in Atlanta, when it snows, everything stops. (Here is the post by the way: http://avagabonde.blogspot.com/2011/01/atlanta-snow-in-new-year.html.) Will you get good Web connection in the mountains?

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  3. Where we learn that Nadege and Vagabonde don't like the snow and the cold. Actually neither do I, but only in cities, where it makes life difficult and there's no upside to it. Your 27 C Nadege (lucky lady!) sounds just about perfect to me. In the countryside though you can see and appreciate why we have winter and its role in nature. That said, it doesn't pay the bills and I earn my living mostly from the Internet (translating) so you can be sure Vagabonde that the web works well there. Just as well as here in fact. Hey, and next winter I'll be nice and warm inside, posting my blogs whilst looking out the window to see what you see above. (Oh, and the link does take me to your snow in Atlanta entry, but it says 'Sorry, the page you are looking for doesn't exist'.

    Right, time to go to my rehearsal. That'll keep me warm because singing and playing for 5 hours is an energetic business! Seeyas later.

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  4. "Vagabonde" the link didn't work for me either so I just went to your archives (2010) to view your snow pictures (brrrr!!!!).

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