The First Snow in Stratford

Snow-dusted

We had our first flurries yesterday. I had been feeling down in the dump with an early case of seasonal affective disorder (SAD) and the sight of snow was just what I needed to perk myself up a little. I’d been having trouble getting myself out of bed but not this morning. I was so excited to see the snow that I practically jumped out of bed as soon as I woke up. I love snow. We had our first snowsquall warning last night and we’re expecting 10 to 15 centimeters of snow today. And it’s not even winter yet. Don’t you just love living in Ontario? πŸ˜‰

Tomorrow The day after tomorrow is Hallowe’en and this is the first year since we’ve been together that we’re actually expecting trick-or-treaters to knock on our door. We have three boxes of treat-size chocolate bars to give away. I’m kind of hoping that the weather would be crappy tomorrow evening just so that there’d be less trick-or-treaters and we could have most of the chocolate bars for ourselves but it probably wouldn’t be good for our health. We’ve bought ourselves three bags of cheap Hallowe’en decorations, but with this kind of weather, I don’t think we would ever get around to putting them up. Oh well. At least we’ve got two big pumpkins to show off. Troy got them for $1 each from some place in the middle of nowhere! And they are big! At the grocery store across the street, they’re selling those for $4.99 each. Score!

In other news, we now have a cherry tree in the backyard! Friends of ours bought it for us as a housewarming present. We went to a couple of local nurseries together and I got to pick the tree I wanted. They even planted it for us! When I saw the Purpleleaf Sandcherry tree (Prunus cistena), I knew I was in love. Yes, it was love at first sight. The fruits won’t be edible, but since the tree will produce pretty flowers that look like this come spring, I think I can deal with that. A lot of pictures on the Intarweb show the tree looking more like a shrub than a tree but ours definitely looks like a tree. It’s already over 6 feet tall! I’m really looking forward to watching the flowers bloom in the spring next year. I love cherry blossoms.

While we were searching for the tree, I almost got attacked by a big, black dog as we were leaving one of the nurseries. One of our friends called it the racist dog because it was specifically going for me, the only non-white among the five of us. Heh. The dog belonged to one of the neighbouring houses, not the nursery. Anyway, as the dog was running towards me, barking fiercely, the only thought that came to my mind was, “Oh crap. Is this how this day is going to end?” Troy instinctively grabbed me and put me behind his back, ready to take the bite. I don’t know what happened next but the next thing I knew, the dog was already back to where it came from and I saw its owner giving the dog hell for not behaving. I was freaked out for sure, but it wasn’t enough to give me a nightmare about being chomped by a dog that night.

By the way, I’ve got good news for you. I have signed up to participate in the National Blog Posting Month (NaBloPoMo) next month. Participants are required to update their blogs at least once a day for a whole month, so in theory, I’ll be updating this wee blog daily! Isn’t it exciting? I know, oh-em-gee indeed! But wait, there’s more! There’ll be a contest!

Anyone who posted the most comments to this blog during the NaBloPoMo next month will be rewarded! There is a minimum number of comments, though. You have to post at least 10 relevant comments to participate in this contest (“10” and “relevant” are the keywords here). It’s like one comment for every 3 posts! No big deal! In the case that there is more than one person with the highest number of comments, a name will be drawn out of the hat by my lovely assistant Troy. The reward will be a set of three 5×5 prints from my own photography portfolio (I won’t tell you which ones because I want it to be a surprise).

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7 comments

  1. Ok… Sounds like fun. I checked out your portfolio and amazing work – there is a reason why you have been published. I shoot for fun but sell and publish some work as well. Enjoy the snow…. Chris (from Ontario)…

  2. We currently just have the cold, but not the snow to make it pretty. It’s pretty much the only time Scotland hasn’t had any rain all year, as well. Sod you, sky!
    And I am sooo in on the commenting, because I want me one of those cameras (I’m assuming there’s no “must be on the same landmass as me” condition in the rules!) But relevant? Yikes – that might be a problem, because I’ve never been relevant in my life!
    (And good luck with the blogging – just stock up on memes in case of blogging emergencies!)

  3. I’ll ship the prize anywhere on this planet. As for relevant, as long as the comment has something to do with whatever I’m talking about in the post, no matter how loosely, I’ll call it relevant. πŸ™‚

  4. OMG I missed your post by three days?? Anyways… I am not playing… I love your blog and I comment not for the prize πŸ™‚

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