Weather Changes

         It seems this time of year, one never knows what to expect from the weather. At 24 degrees, yesterday morning was about the coldest winter morning we've had here in the Shire. A red cardinal sat in the sun, its feathers plumped up against the morning chill. And in the woods behind my house, the sunlight fell in long patches across the ground; 

but in front of the house, frost covered all.

Here's frost on the Asian jasmine near my front door.

In winter the frost settles in the darkness, then the sun comes up, and for a brief interval  the frost sparkles and glitters 

in the light, before it disappears without notice. 

But the weather changes ...

and soon after the sunlight had warmed everything, the clouds came out and the wind picked up and everyone asked, "Where did the sun go?" But around noon the sun came out again. And then the clouds moved in again and it got colder and  rain fell heavily. A few hours passed and the rain stopped ...

and 12 deer came out to feed in a meadow near where I work

As I made my way back home, an intensely orange sun filled the sky with a dazzling, nearly blinding light.

A blue-gray twilight, then darkness. 

And this morning, sunlight again.