Our Winter Garden

The wind has been a howling virago all day. We've been the recipient of an ongoing blizzard; winds of 50kmh, heavy snow whirling about everywhere, interspersed with fragile ice pellets. The storm began in the early morning hours, and by noon there was about six to eight inches of snow on the ground. We were warned to anticipate roughly 16 cm throughout the day, and another 5 cm or so overnight. We have already exceeded that and have dug out several times.

(The city in which we live is experiencing traffic gridlock. Not helped one iota by the public transit system which absurdly uses articulated buses, fine for moving about greater numbers of fares, but not so good in such weather. They have an unfortunate tendency to jack-knife and insist that it is their right to do so, further tying up traffic by occasionally blocking both sides of a roadway.)

For people having to travel it's a nightmare. For those who can gaze out their windows onto the scene outside, it's a miracle of nature's transformation of a bleak late fall day into a snow-laden, scintillating scene of unimaginable beauty. We long ago settled our garden into winter mode. The bulbs planted in mid-fall had ample opportunity through incessant rain in October to establish themselves, setting down a good root system.

One of our backyard composters had been emptied and its contents sprinkled liberally on the gardens at the front. We used commercial compost, sheep manure mixed with black soil on the backyard gardens. Else our Button will delve into the compost and feast herself on the decomposed remnants of kitchen waste; some dogs exhibit the most outrageous proclivities. All of the garden pots have been stored under the deck, and covered with tarpaulins so the clay won't crack through exposure to free-and-thaw.

The latest, larger garden shed has been completed, and it now holds, among other tools, the snow thrower which was given a good first run of the season in clearing out the driveway out front and the walkways. I went out early in the day to shovel out all the backyard walkways and the deck just after noon, and moved about six-inch-thick layers so our little dogs could get out to do their thing. It had to be repeated a few hours later, but not by me. Although it was incredibly invigorating to be out there, in the swirling snow; picturesque beyond belief.

I thought: why not take a few photographs, and so I indulged. Snow can be seen layered atop some of our collection of classical garden statuary, the bird baths, the urns, which all remain in place through all seasons. Some (the urns, the birdbaths) are covered with rigid tops and plastic to ensure they too don't suffer from a freeze-and-thaw cycle that could leave them cracked. Our statuary have gone through many years of exposure and remain intact.

Although the astute observer will notice that Faith, Hope and Charity cling closely to one another for warmth in this season inimical to the unprepared unclad, while the infinitely hardier figure of Discobolus refuses to submit to the weather-inclemency and bravely continues his solo, victorious toss.