Monday was another really cold day. I needed some things from the pharmacy, so went for a walk downtown to the city centre. It takes a good while for the river to freeze even when it's as cold as now; but ice has begun to form along the river banks in some places, especially where the water is shallow. One also sees sheets of ice floating along in the open water, and sometimes piling up, like here.
This fence is a barrier between a street and the railway that runs in the valley down below.
It's rather unusual to see snow staying more or less untouched on fences and plants like this for several days in a row - but there's been no wind since the snow fell, and the temperature has not risen above freezing point either. Today was a lot milder than the last couple of days, but it still wasn't thawing - so it still looked pretty much the same when I walked past there again today, now in the other direction.
Upstream, on the other side of the bridge, the river calm like a mirror...
* * * * * * * * *
It sifts from leaden sieves,
It powders all the wood,
It fills with alabaster wool
The wrinkles of the road.
It makes an even face
Of mountain and of plain, —
Unbroken forehead from the east
Unto the east again.
It reaches to the fence,
It wraps it, rail by rail,
Till it is lost in fleeces;
It flings a crystal veil
On stump and stack and stem, —
The summer’s empty room,
Acres of seams where harvests were,
Recordless, but for them.
It ruffles wrists of posts,
As ankles of a queen, —
Then stills its artisans like ghosts,
Denying they have been.
10 comments:
no matter the temps or sun or gray skies, your photos of you town are always beautiful, even on gray and dreary days, the beauty shines through. If i could transport myself there, I would love to visit it and you. I feel as though I would recognize your area that you walk frequently and share with us, if I were suddenly transported and dropped on your streets
More fascinating wintry pictures. I can almost feel the cold emanating directly from my computer monitor. Brrrr! Oh - and by the way - congratulations on fifteen years of blogging! That's a lot of water under the bridge - apart from when it was frozen!
No new snow has fallen here, and so we're stuck for now with the little bit that came down on Sunday night. But it has remained below freezing point, too, and so I am wearing a cashmere sweater even at home, where my work place is right next to the radiator. Yesterday at the office, it never really felt warm, but I was glad for the hot lunch in the canteen :-)
It all looks beautiful, and it is good that you had the chance to go out (and take us along!).
It looks very cold and rather beautiful.
Your winter weather is usually such a contrast to ours, and it's lovely to see the snow, even on a grey day.
This morning I met a friend and we walked our dogs along by the marina and out onto a path below the Peñon d'Ifach - the local landmark - a towering rock on a
peninsula. We don't have snow or ice, but our sky looked the same as yours, grey and overcast and the "ambience" seemed very much the same. The sea was the same colour as your river and most uninviting. It's an unpleasant day - a degree or so too chilly to linger outdoors. Reminiscent of many summer days when we lived in the UK!
Sandra, I'm sure you know my immediate neighbourhood pretty well by now! :)
Thanks YP. I dare not even try to imagine how many photos of the river running through my town that I may have posted over those years... ;-)
Thanks Meike. As you know by now, I do try to get out at least for a little while most days...
Thanks for visiting, Jenny! It was a very cold day, but no wind, so that way bearable to be out for a while :)
Carol, this is really winter "at its best" - steadily cold for a period is much better than when it keeps shifting all the time between thawing and freezing.
Post a Comment