Walking in a Winter Wonderland

Yesterday, they predicted rain and a high of 34 degrees.  We got both.  But then the temperature dropped and that rain turned to falling ice, and then to snow.  Always a bad scenario when you get them both; worse when the ice falls for a few hours to coat everything, then the snow falls and makes it impossible to see where the ice is. The country is covered in black ice and it has paralyzed its transportation system - trams don't work very well with frozen power lines.  The streets are desolate and the few sounds that you do hear while outside are muffled.  I am simply mesmerized.

I spent many of my formative years living in a climate just like the one here in Prague.  I won't say I have missed it, as I prefer the more moderate climes I have lived in, but I can say it has brought back a lot of memories of home.  Since this is the first ice/snow fall of the season, I am enchanted by how crisp and clean everything looks. I love the nip of the air and the sound of Dulce's paws crunching through the ice covered grass, so that she can roll around in the snow for the first time. I like the fact that it has broken up the monotony of the gray skies we have been under for the past month now.  But catch me in a month or two and I guarantee I will not be as enchanted.  And that is why I took my phone on my walk with me today.  To capture a few pictures of the beauty of nature all covered in ice and a smattering of snow.  Because all to soon I will forget to look at the beauty, and will only see slippery sidewalks that kids can fall on, and dirty snowboots left in my front hall.

But, right now, in this moment, my world looks like I am on the inside of a snow globe, and that is pretty cool.

(First - from my backyard and taken with my real camera and lens. The square pictures are all from my iPhone.  This is one of those times that you can see a real difference in the quality of pictures.  Still stunning though).