Winter Scenes
I wasn't sure what to post on this day, but had some wintery scans in a folder, and it just felt like a good time to share them. Maybe it would have been smarter to put them up in August? Oh well, what's done is done.
The first two feature a nice lady we've seen before, she lived somewhere in the Chicago area, so I can only assume that the icy scene is from somewhere along the shores of Lake Michigan. Every surface is covered in ice, and that jumble of ice crystals to the left is interesting. The lady looks cute as a button in her outfit, and that's all that really matters.
Here she is again, in another fashionable outfit, about to bean us with a snowball. And it's not a light, fluffy snowball either, but one made from slush and gravel. It's going to leave a mark. In spite of the wintry weather, the bright sunshine somehow makes everything look pretty cheerful.
I like this undated, unlabeled photo overlooking a frozen pond that has been scraped of the snow so that the local kids can use it as a makeshift skating rink. Very "Saturday Evening Post". I can't help thinking of the song "Skating" by Vince Guaraldi (from the "Peanuts Christmas Special").
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kn4Y3sHyfsg
Speaking of the "Saturday Evening Post", illustrator John Falter (who painted 120 "Post" covers) did this illustration in the 1950s, "Winter Fun in Bucks County". I just had to include it today!
And finally, here's a scene that is familiar to many; it might have snowed last night, but now the sun has come out , the sky is blue, and that snow is going to start turning to mush. But there's still time for Ma to build a snowman (assuming that she doesn't have to do any perms today).
Wherever you are, I hope that you are warm and comfy!
16 comments:
That “cute as a button” lady is not dressed warm-enough, in the first pic. Brrrrr!
My cousin from warm, Southern California recently asked me what’s the difference between zero degrees and 40 below (which we recently experienced, with the windchill). I responded, “How quickly you die.” You just learn to run faster from your car to house or wherever you’re going. :o/
I bet Nanook can identify that partially-buried car in the last picture.
Thanks, Major. Brrrrr!
Sue
In the third pic, how does one go about shoving the icy snow off the surface of the pond? Seems like too big a job for mere manual snow shovels.
In the "Winter Fun" illustration, there's some hockey being played on the frozen pond. Also a game of "whip", flinging off some of the skaters. In the background, someone is making a snow angel... or maybe he's in the midst of falling out of that tree. I like how we can't see who's being pulled on the sled by the folks in the foreground.
Sue, I agree. Her outfit is too thin and clingy.
Thanks for the [brrr!] Winter pics, Major. (Hey, Sue started it!)
Major-
I think it's idilic scenes such as these that tend to counteract the often harsh reality of snowfall, that make those unfamiliar with real winter weather long for never-ending snow.
And I'll bet you thought a layer of snow would stop any car ID-ing... How foolish of you. Parked in front of the Gregg's Beauty Shoppe (with 3-G's & 2-P's) is a 1951 Pontiac Streamliner De Luxe Sedan Coupe, with some nasty-looking 'chrome' bumpers - the license plate [unfortunately] obscured by snow. And peeking-in from the far-right is [probably] a 1953 Plymouth Cranbrook, in Cactus Green.
Love the winter wonderland scenes, Major.
JB, I was wondering the same thing about scraping the snow off of the ice. Since I have never lived anywhere that gets snow, I had never thought about how that would have to be done, prior to being able to ice skate. I assume a Zamboni is too heavy for the ice on a lake? I suppose you could squirt some food coloring on the snow and tell the neighborhood kids to come and get their free "all-you-can-eat" snow cones.
In the last picture, Gregg doesn't look very happy about having her picture taken. Neither does her dog.
Yep, you ice skate back and forth, and back and forth, and back and forth, pushing a snow shovel across a pond ice rink—to clear the snow. And you hope the ice is not too bumpy or it’s not as much fun to skate on.
I loved to ice skate, in my younger days.
Sue
That “jumble of ice crystals” in the first picture is actually a group of ice-encrusted deciduous trees and bushes that have lost their leaves for the winter. If you look closely, you can see the woody branches at the center of the ice formations.
There’s not enough detail here to really be sure, but the second photo reminds me of some overlooks at Mississippi Palisades State Park in northwestern Illinois. If she was from Chicago, it’s not outside the realm of possibility.
I never had ice skates, but there is a small lake in town near my house that we used to play on in the winter when I was a boy. Hockey in snow boots is an interesting experience. So is spinning out on your banana-seat bike on a frozen surface. Unfortunately, it doesn’t get cold enough here anymore for the lake to freeze solid enough to safely walk on it, so after we moved back in 2008 my kids never had the opportunity to enjoy the lake that way. Probably just as well; it’s fenced now with big “go away - by order of owners’ association” signs posted. The people who live there now are no more jerks than the people who lived there in my childhood, but there’s a much greater fear of litigation today.
Mrs. Chuck used to live next to the Erie Canal and tells stories of skating long distances on its surface as a girl. She still enjoys ice skating today - that is, when she can get onto the rink between hockey practices.
Sue, “How quickly you die.” Succinctly put…and something I will use with my Scouts forthwith.
Nanook, also well-put about the romance vs. reality of snow. We’re expecting snow tomorrow. Only an inch or two, but enough to justify snuggling on the couch in front of the fireplace. I might even put some wood in there and light it.
Absolutely love that Falter print!
We have not had any snow this season...which, everyone is celebrating...but a small Nor-Easter...I wouldn't mind. Not 36" but maybe 8" I never thought about clearing the snow off the ponds that freeze over...there is a little one a few blocks from me, but I've never seen. I'm sure some strapping lad gets out there with a snow shovel so the wee ones can skate. I'm not one to skate on a pond. My center of gravity has changed since my skating days...snow in my little quaint New England neighborhood feels like that print...it looks very magical and Currier and Ives. It all changes when you've seen it from October through April and then you get the "last storm"...you kind of sigh when the big blobs of wet snow is falling and think..wow...that's going to be super heavy...and will probably take down a tree limb or two...I haven't even taken the snow shovel out of the garage yet. I actually like a little shoveling, and make little "luge" tubes for the dogs so they can run around. I'm one of the crazy ones you see shoveling wearing shorts and a puffy coat. I sweat like a beast shoveling and get way too hot. No shoveling means sitting, television, and chocolate...my doctor loves this (not). If you haven't been to Bucks County, that is another super pretty magical bucolic area. Lot's of stone houses. I looked there when looking for a house...passed a stone house with a water wheel, small creek, little pond and a flock of white geese...with tulips in full bloom and the starting buds of fruit trees....then I did the math on heating a stone house, maintaining an antique water wheel, petulant geese with attitude, high water table, dirt roads, gravel driveway....hmmmm....all super pretty, but maybe further north is better... Thanks for the memories of snow! I'm not sure how much we'll see before Mothers day. The first "official" day to get seeds and plants into the ground. (just FYI).
Bu, I like how you lead us down that pastoral garden path in that Thomas Kinkade setting... then dash it to bits with reality. ;-)
I grew up on a lake that froze most winters, and if we had a particularly snowy winter some enterprising kid would build a plow out of scrap wood and rope so a few kids pulling and pushing it could clear a hockey rink faster than skating with a shovel.
Bu, I wonder if heating a stone house is much more expensive than one made of wood. I'd guess that there's a lot of thermal mass in the stone so as long as you keep it at a constant temperature it's not that bad.
I used to have a red double-breasted wool coat almost exactly like the one in the second picture. I never thought to pair it with a babushka, but it was a lot more cheerful-looking in the middle of winter than the standard black or navy.
Take the white porches off, and the brick house in the skating illustration could pass for one of the houses in the skating photograph. I love the two groups off to the left of the pond, where the concentrations of white skates and black skates tell you the young men and women haven't yet figuratively "broken the ice." I knew kids like Mrs. Chuck who skated on the Canal, but I was never that ambitious nor athletic. Give me a nice, warm roller rink with a nice, wooden floor, and let the Hans Brinkers of the world do their thing on the canals.
We did have a long driveway that sloped from the barn down to the road, and when it iced over in the winter it was great fun to take the old-fashioned metal-runner sleds down it. You had to be able to turn pretty quickly when you got to the bottom to avoid going into the road, but there were usually some good, soft snowbanks down there to crash into.
I can read the mind of the little dog on the Beauty Shoppe porch: "Do I really have to go that bad?"
Sue, you are not wrong, as cute as she looks, I’m assuming that she wasn’t planning on spending much time outdoors! 40 below, holy cow. I can’t even imagine. We once got minus 14 in Pennsylvania, and I had to stand outside waiting for the school bus. That was fun! No idea if there was an additional wind chill.
JB, I was wondering the same thing, I assume that there was some clever way to clear snow from a pond, maybe use super lasers? John Falter was a brilliant illustrator - Normal Rockwell gets all the attention, but the Saturday Evening Post had a lot of great artists.
Nanook, I’ll never forget when I was in Wisconsin years ago, and it started to snow. I walked into a store and said, “Isn’t this snow nice?”, and the cashier looked at me like I was nuts. Amazing that you can ID that car based on “not much”, as always I am impressed.
TokyoMagic!, yeah, I doubt many small towns had a Zamboni. If the ice was thick enough, I guess a small vehicle with a snowplow mounted on the front might do most of the work. And “Gregg” is smiling on the inside.
Sue, I’ve only ice skated at rinks in SoCal! Never out “in the wild”. I’d worry about plunging through thin ice like George Bailey’s brother.
Chuck, I was kind of referring to the crystalline ice that seemed to be pushing up from the ground, though I guess that could be ice-covered weeds and grasses? We had a pond near us in Pennsylvania that would freeze over, but I don’t remember even stepping out on to the ice. It wasn’t a very large pond, maybe that’s why. Wow, neat that Mrs. Chuck had the experience of skating on the Erie Canal! I can’t even imagine going long distances, though obviously people did it. I loved snow as a child, especially when it was as if somebody flipped a switch, and . . . ta da! It’s snowing!
Steve DeGaetano, I’m glad! It’s a good one!
Bu, wow, surprising that you have not had snow where you are. I just assumed that you were staying cozy indoors. My dad used to make my brother and me shovel the driveway and sidewalks, man that was hard. And if the snow had frozen overnight, forget it. I was always so jealous of neighbors who had a snow blower. I think a lot of famous painters and illustrators lived in or near Bucks County, maybe Falter lived there too. A stone house sounds potentially damp and cold.
Anonymous, yes - like I said, as a kid I loved snow, while my dad hated it! He once had to use a blow drier to unfreeze his car door because it was frozen shut.
JB, “Thomas Kinkade setting”, ha ha!
Dean Finder, I love that story about the enterprising kid! Where there’s a will, there’s a way. Very “Tom Sawyer”, somehow.
Melissa, maybe you need a babushka just like that lady! Although it sounds like you no longer own your double-breasted coat. I still remember the smell of wet wool coats and mittens drying in our basement, somehow I found it comforting. I assume that the folks off to the edge of the ice might not be as accomplished when it comes to skating. I always had to hug the wall at the rink, and was never any good. I’d be jealous of the showoffs who would skate backwards, or even do spins!
Major-
Earlier this afternoon as I was driving to the market [up in the Puget Sound] it started out as rain, with what looked to be a snow-mix. By the time I left the market, it was really coming down, in big wet flakes. Probably snowed for about 45 minutes, before it turned back into rain - the air temps too warm for any of it to stick. It was fun to walk thru it while it lasted, tho.
Major, it's the smell of all the wet coats and mittens on the school bus that sticks with me.
Snow on the ground here in Pocatello, Idaho but it was a beautiful clear day with a high of 27, which is purty good this time of year :D
Love that Falter painting...
Thank You Major
Drove home last night from the barn and encountered snow around the town and here at home. Not much but it's still here this morning.
Sue knows how to clear a lake/pond. I never had a smooth surface on the nearby pond but we skated the best we could anyway as, being young, we could bounce much better than we can today. Snow is still an adventure to me at this age. And I wrap up and go out to do the chores...even at below zero, which is not too common around these parts, but it happens. A friend in MT had a temp of -43F actual temp during the cold spell.
A number of years ago, while on an assignment in Alaska, I drove the rental trunk out onto a lake with my coworker in tow. I remember her concern as I drove from the shoreline onto the lake surface. It was January and there were others out on the lake as well. How could I NOT take the opportunity when I had the chance? Scratch that one off the bucket list! KS
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