Arctic Front

The North Wind has brought the Arctic to our doorstep. Wind's voice sounds like long, slow moans, as it helps clothe branches of Trees and Shrubs with a mantle of Snow and Ice.

Water, so abundant last week, has frozen in place...the treacherous Ice lying in wait underneath the Snow.

And there is a mountain of Snow, it seems. It has snowed for three days and nights, starting with the coldest Blizzard I can remember. It is still snowing; the forecast is for another huge Snow Storm to hit on Wednesday.

These photos were taken three days ago. Today, after another night of snowfall, I went out once again to clear branches of Snow. But it wasn't to be... Snow has turned to Ice and is clinging and enveloping each branch. The branches are brittle with cold; I hear snapping sounds from twigs in the distance. Were I to brush them, in the interests of helping, it would be all to easy to introduce harm instead.

I break holes through Ice in the ponds, where Koi lives, deep beneath plant roots. It is cold...so cold. It feels as if it will never be warm again...the ice-laden breath of the Arctic has driven all thoughts of Summer and too much heat from my memory.

For awhile, the dogs like the cold. It is a change from the mud and water we slogged through last week. I appreciate Snow, too; it keeps the dogs clean...no more muddy feet. Even as the driving Snow blurs and obscures the sight out of windows, kids are playing...building snowmen and forts and race cars and playing hockey. Their muffled, happy laughter rings true.

But the dogs get cold, in this icy Northeast Wind, and so do I. I go inside, sending the plants, so frozen and lifeless, many Reiki blessings to help them through this continuing strange onslaught of aberrant weather. What will be next? What is the weather showing us, trying to tell us? We have had an unusually long, dry Summer and through most of Autumn, we have had little rain.

But in November ...things changed. Weather became just as extreme as the hot dry days of Summer. We are no longer in a temperate climate, it seems. The normal topic of conversations these days is the weather. The question...What will the weather do today?...is on every one's lips. Life has changed for many people...no longer is electricity something we take for granted; nor is Water, still being boiled in many areas. Some towns and villages are cut off from the outside world. Suddenly, due to the whims of something we can't control, our way of life is no longer a sure thing.

The Snow and Ice contributes to the sense of emergency. The muffled sounds and whines of emergency vehicles has become almost constant. There are many elderly people who live here; weather such as this can sometimes precipitate dire straits, with electricity flickering on and off. We are lucky to have the paramedics we do...lives are being saved.

The landscape, with blowing Snow and howling Wind mostly obscuring familiar land points, is eerily beautiful, picturesque as a Winter postcard. But it looks like this from inside, where Gray and I are warm, grateful for our good fortune in still having electricity.

Outside, an Arctic Front holds us in its hoary grip...bringing change to our modern lifestyles and reminding us of ancient lessons learned long ago from Mother Earth.

Ancient lessons of survival.