January 21, 2007

The view after the treacherous drive home.

I made it home from the café, up the hill toward home, behind a Mini Cooper that couldn't make it. Some people hopped out of a van to push the Mini a ways and get it going, but it was inching toward an even steeper part of the hill, so I took a detour the long way back, through deep snow on a sidestreet so narrow that even when there is no snow, one car will have to pull to the side if there are two cars going in opposite directions. Despite encountering another car, I made it home unscathed, parked Silvio on the street and stopped to take two photos from my front stoop:

Snow

Snow

18 comments:

Maxine Weiss said...

The first, top, picture is very pretty.

(a rare compliment)

I think you should use that top one as your next year's Christmas card.

You do send out Christmas Cards each year, right?

It certainly increases your chances of receiving lots of Valentines!

Peace, Maxine

I'm Full of Soup said...

I really like the 2nd one Ann. It's great - perhaps even great art!

Anonymous said...

I second Maxine's thoughts. Love the pictures -- the ice on the trees gives a nice framing effect for the house and cars, though I think both photos are postcard material. It is, of course, an empirical question on the uptick in Valentines -- with no supporting evidence on my side.

Burkean Reflections

Anonymous said...

Pictures as beautiful as you. thanks!

Unknown said...

Wow! That first picture is awesome! (Oops, did I say awesome?)

Let me try again:

It's stunning, and beatiful.

I second the idea of making it a Christmas card. And maybe a page in a custom calendar.

I love our nothern winters. (I'm from northern Michigan, myself.)

These california folks are always bragging about how it's 72 and sunny to try to rub it in.

They have no idea how much we love it up here.

Mark Daniels said...

The pictures really are beautiful.

Glad you made it back home safely.

Mark

Palladian said...

"I love our nothern winters. (I'm from northern Michigan, myself.)

These california folks are always bragging about how it's 72 and sunny to try to rub it in.

They have no idea how much we love it up here."

I heartily agree. I couldn't function without winter; I do my best work in the winter. Constant sunny, warm weather turns people into dullards. These pictures make me sad, as they remind me of what a bust our winter has been in the northeast. At least it's finally dropped below freezing.

Anonymous said...

Why bother pushing the Mini? Just toss it in the back of the van and drive it up to the top of the hill.

Ann Althouse said...

I don't deserve much credit for these pictures, but thanks for the praise. It really just looks like this here.

Palladian said...

This is the music for these scenes [RealPlayer clip from Amazon], from the best soundtrack for the stark, rigorous winter.

Anonymous said...

These scenes are unfathomable to me. I know lots of people who go skiing, but I've only seen the snow once before in my life. It was so cold, I just couldn't deal. But I could gaze at these pictures for a long time. The largest picture file sizes are enchanting.

vbspurs said...

I really like the 2nd one Ann. It's great - perhaps even great art!

I really like that one too, AJ. It's PURRRRTY.

I know Ann doesn't read threads sometimes, so let me ask anyone who knows -- does anyone know what digital camera she uses?

I'm sure it's very expensive, but I could save. :)

Cheers,
Victoria

Anonymous said...

Man, look at that house. It a colonial revival, based on the earlier Adam style. I bet it was built in @ 1900. It would be made of masonry if it was made in 1910 or later. Everybody always remuddles these and wrecks them.

The arrangement of windows is called 5 bay. Symmetrical, ganged in pairs with a center bay for one window or the door and portico serving the entry hall. There's an ell projecting back from the side-gabled main house, and what looks like more house behind that. In New England, they call that "little house, big house, backhouse, barn."

Look at the gable end. A real Palladian window in the attic. That house probably had servants living in an attic room there. Picture that in the summer.

The very first piece of furniture I ever built was in an attic just like that, and with the slope of the ceiling I was unable to stand up in there all the way except in the middle of the room. I found old whiskey bottles left by the help, labels still on them, hidden over the ceiling for a century. A mouse had chewed through the cork, and drowned in the whiskey,and was still in there, sorta.

I felt a kinship with the people who built that house, and labored and slept in its attic.

But especially with the mouse.

vbspurs said...

Magical, Sippican. Especially loved the ode to the mouse.

A cross between The New Yankee Workshop meets Robert Burns.

Cheers,
Victoria

Sasha Amorosa said...

Well, I'm not jealous of the snow. We've been in the 50s here in Germany. It is fun to wear my dressy boots and not the galoshes. We will get our share of snow, probably in February; but it has already been forecasted that due to global warming, in 15 years, our ski slopes in the Alps will no longer exist.

Well, folks, stay warm, grin and bear it.

Anonymous said...

This are ot just some photos - this is artwork, I think! Like painted pictures..

vbspurs said...

but it has already been forecasted that due to global warming, in 15 years, our ski slopes in the Alps will no longer exist.

Steiner, here is a bet. In 15 years, if you have no ski slopes in the Alps due to global warming, I'll give you U$1,000 by today's rate of exchange.

Take me up on it?

Cheers,
Victoria

MadisonMan said...

The nice thing about the snowfall was that it wasn't windy, so all the tree branches held the snow as it fell. As the beautiful pictures show.

The house was probably built in the 20s. I think that's when the development started behind the Olin House (which fence you can see in the picture).