FROM WITHOUT AND WITHIN – CEE’S FUN PHOTO CHALLENGE

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Inner and Outer


Yesterday, we finally got out of the house to visit some friends for lunch. This is a long-deferred date. He was sick, I was sick, Garry was sick, it snowed. Finally, after the last delay, I said “That’s it, we’re doing this.” And we did. We were between colds and nobody ever has anything to do at the end of January in New England. It’s when we all hunker down and wait for spring to come.

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Of course, it snowed. We hadn’t seen as much as a flake for weeks, but the one day we finally get out of the house to do something other than shop or go to a doctor, it snowed. The first flakes were falling as we climbed into the car.

“It seems to be snowing,” I said. I am good at stating the obvious.

“Yes,” said Garry who is equally good at agreeing with the obvious.

“We’d better keep an eye on the weather,” I continued.

“Yes,” he agreed.

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There hadn’t been any snow in the forecast and while it wasn’t exactly warm, it wasn’t below freezing. But you just can’t tell around here. Our friends live in Grafton — a few towns north of us in the valley. Less than 20 miles and about half an hour of driving, assuming light traffic, which is mostly what you find in this area except our brief “rush hour.”

From inside the car ...

From inside the car …

As we drove north, following the directions of the GPS which, it turned out, were absurdly circuitous. We could have done the same thing far more easily if our GPS wasn’t convinced we had to avoid tolls at all costs. Some embedded command in its software will always send us by any road other than the Mass Pike … even when the Mass Pike would only cost us a few cents and save us a lot of complicated twists and turns. We didn’t know that going, but figured it out going home.

Sorry, I digressed.

Outside, tractor in falling snow

Outside, tractor in falling snow

It was snowing pretty hard by the time we got there. Not a blinding storm, but definitely snowing. Medium to biggish flakes. Which usually means it isn’t serious about the snow thing. The sky wasn’t that bright white that screams “Hey you, tons of snow is going to fall on you. Yes, you!” This suggested a heavy dusting … an inch or two maybe. But, as I said, you can’t be sure. Living in a valley, you can be in Uxbridge and get a foot or more, while four miles away, Douglas gets nothing. There are a lot of reasons for this, but let’s just say that our weather is whimsical, and has a sense of humor.

From inside, out through the picture window

From inside, out through the picture window

We didn’t stay as long as we would have liked because it kept snowing and it was sticking on the road surfaces. Sometimes these relatively light, wet snows are the most slippery. Neither of us likes driving, especially in bad weather. Garry does it anyway.

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By the time we made it back, stopping at the grocery to pick up a few items, the world was getting that “winter wonderland” look. Even snow haters find it hard to resist. New England always looks like a Currier & Ives print with a fresh dusting.

I took a few pictures. From outside and from inside. At home and at the mini-mall where the grocery store lives. Cameras. Never leave home without one. Or two.cee's fun foto chall



Categories: #Photography, Cee's Photo Challenge, snow, Weather, Winter

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13 replies

  1. Tricky conditions to drive in but the photos are awfully nice, Marilyn.
    Leslie

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  2. The wonders of winter! 🙂

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  3. These are all great shots, but I got to adore the looking through the windshield. 😀

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  4. Glad you braved it to get outside, such nice scenes inside and out!

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    • We had to be out there to get home from lunch … and stop at the grocery for a few odds and ends. It wasn’t too cold, so it was okay. Just WET. Got some nice detail of falling flakes, which was fun 😀

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  5. Been there and done it. I remember a concert in Bern, and we very rarely have tickets for concerts so far away in the evening. It was snowing when we left and did not stop all evening, meaning that roads were no cleared so quickly and half hour drive became more than an hour., although Mr. Swiss was driving. I can see very well how the situation was developing from your photos. We seem to be the two ladies that travel with a camera. Does Gary also complain that you are sometimes in the way when he is driving?

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    • Yes, but I am the navigator, so he has to put up with me. He isn’t good about stopping for a picture. Unless that’s what we planned in the first place. He’a kind of single-minded.

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  6. It isn’t just there…. winter storms by their very nature can be very fickle about how much snow they dump in certain places over any given area due to the generous rain-to-snow conversion rates. Nobody’s really going to notice the difference between a quarter of an inch and a full inch of rainfall…. but in winter, that could very well be 3 inches of snow versus a foot. Pity the poor meteorologist who has to field angry calls from viewers in the same metro region who are angry that his 3-6 inch forecast was apparently too little and too much all at the same time!

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    • We are the forgotten land, so they literally NEVER include us in the forecast. We are also on the edge where systems meet, so it’s kind of hard to know. We look at the weather maps. It helps to be able to read the map. Much more accurate that the official versions. In any case, if it is going to be a big storm, it will bury the whole area, so a little more or less? Doesn’t matter.

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  7. Isn’t that the way — you pick a day, and it turns out to be the one with the worst weather in weeks! It must have felt good to get out, though!

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