Snow!!!

As always the first snowfall of the year makes me happy. There is just something magical about the first one which seems to bring people outside to play in the beautiful white flakes. Yesterday was our first snow and I watched a young girl riding her scooter through the flakes, mouth open to catch them on her tongue. Then I took the camera out to try to record some of this magic. Of course there is no way to pin down magic but it's fun to try. 

Now don't get me wrong, by the seventh snow I'll be complaining and by the 30th I'll be done with winter. But for this moment I was happy. For this moment I was more than ready for winter. Here are a couple of the shots I took. I've noticed that falling snow doesn't photograph well but it does video well. I love the mixing of snow with leaves. I'm particularly proud of the red one. And the pumpkin reminds me that autumn moves into winter. My neighbor still had hers out and it was collecting snow fast. 

Power Outages and Magic Moments

Last week we had a number of storms, beautiful but violent storms. The kind that drop grape sized hail and brighten up the sky with constant lightning. On Wednesday I had gone over to see my uncle who was visiting my parents. Jeff called at 10 to let me know not to rush home. The power was out. I can't pass up a power outage so I rushed home. I am actually one of those strange people who love power outages. They are so quiet and so dark. We sat in the dark, no flashlight, and watched the lightning outside. Every couple of seconds the sky lit up but there was no thunder or rain. A perfect electrical storm. Out in the woods the fireflies would light up everytime the lightning struck. There were thousands of them. So Jeff and I rolled up our pants and went out to play in the puddles and the lightning and the fireflies. It was totally dark, and silent, and beautiful. After a couple attempts Jeff caught a lightning bug. He carried it in his hands over to show me. And the moment he opened his hands the firefly lit up, and the power came back on.

Magic.