Early Spring Images

Well, it was still snowing up until about two weeks, but now, early signs of spring are appearing everywhere. The lilies have already begun sending their chlorophyllic solar panels skyward:



As have the multicolored crocuses:



On the other hand, my local neighborhood decorating consultant has apparently had a change in taste regarding the sort of window bottles I should be using this year in my home, replacing the sophisticated worldliness of Sutter Home White Zinfandel with the somewhat smokier, earthier appeal of Southern Comfort (see the past article Miscreants Decorated My Home, if you find yourself in the dark on this one):



It's a shame that these bottles are made of plastic. Otherwise, they actually might've worked out quite well alongside the Sutter Home bottles.

Over the course of the past three days, the spring weather turned particularly foul, as an intense Nor'easter bombarded southern New England and the greater New York Metropolitan areas, with huge amounts of rain and winds gusting upwards of about seventy miles an hour. Fortunately, Derby and the rest of the Naugatuck Valley were spared much of the damage that befell many points farther west of us.

Today was the first nice day in many days, with lots of sunshine and temperatures in the mid-sixties. I spent the late afternoon at the New Haven Rowing Club, and managed to take this nice photo of the Housatonic River from the boathouse, just as the sun was beginning to sink beneath the trees on the opposite shore:



The water was relatively flat, but moving quite quickly, and with lots of swirling eddies, as they were bleeding water from the Stevenson Dam this afternoon, just about a mile upstream. The next photo shows the view facing toward the downstream end of the dock:



All in all, not a bad way to end a gorgeous day -- enjoying the last rays of the warm sun, with a coffee in hand.

February Snows

They say February is usually the snowiest month. That seems to have proven true this year, both here in southern New England and many other places, as well. Here are just a few random photos of the snow falls from last month.

February 16th

Snow actively falling on Hawkins Street. I like this photo because the flakes were large and very visible. This storm began in the wee hours of the morning and lasted throughout much of the day:



The side yard -- snow clinging to my red maple, dogwood, and pine trees:



The usual clearing of the entry porch roof, prior to shoveling the front walk:



February 26th

The predicted Snowmageddon of the decade turned out to be a real snoozer here in the Derby area, although points west of us certainly received quite a bit of snow. Not only did we get far less snow here than predicted, but it was actively melting and lasted only a short time on the ground.

Here's a shot of the side yard prior to my cleaning the walk...snow was already disappearing from the various surfaces:



As for blogging, I've been quite busy as of late with a number of pressing matters, and not very focused on writing. There's a backlog of about three or four articles in my head, and I hope to get them written over the course of the next week or so. Please accept my apologies for the recent lack of activity. But spring is coming, and hopefully better times just ahead for every one!