Snow Day Tradition

Any time we have a measurable snowfall I like to bundle up and tromp around outside to look for animal tracks and breathe the cool winter air.

Everything feels so pure and clean, fresh and invigorating. I awoke to eight inches yesterday and we got a little more later in the day. This was our first measurable snowfall this year so I was thrilled to finally take my first walk of the season.

I always drag around my camera or sometimes just my phone to capture photos during my walk. Of course, I tend to make the same pictures every time but try to look at it with fresh eyes.

These images all came from my iPhone yesterday. Here’s one more.

Enjoy your Tuesday, friends. Stay warm and be careful if you’re out. If the sidewalks are bad remember to walk like a penguin to stay upright!

Mt. Olive Covered Bridge

Just a few miles down the road from my home sits one of my community’s four remaining covered bridges.

Mt. Olive Covered Bridge dates to 1875 but it has been closed to motor vehicle traffic for many years. The county engineer actually rerouted the road around it, preserving the historic structure for pedestrians to enjoy.

People pass by this bridge every day but probably don’t know some interesting things about it.

First of all, the bridge is located on Mt. Olive Road which is just a township road today but was once a major artery for travelers from Marietta to Chillicothe.

Also, it was designed and built by a local engineer named George Washington Pilcher who was considered one of the best in the region. He famously contributed to the construction of Manasseh Cutler Hall on the Ohio University campus.

At the time of construction, the area around this bridge was owned by a family named Grandstaff so some called it by that name for many years. When I ran the county visitors center I would occasionally encounter someone who called it the Grandstaff Bridge and it always made me smile.

Age and vandals had taken their toll by the early 2000s when the county received a grant to have it restored. As part of the project, the natural wood bridge was painted this very pretty green – a suggestion of my mother’s.

One more picture- this is my favorite image of the day.

Snow Day

We received a decent snowfall Wednesday night into Thursday morning.

I went down to the mailbox before work and got to enjoy the sunrise.

There were lots of tracks in the snow to enjoy along the way.

On a break from work, my dad gave me a lift to see this nearby covered bridge in the snow.

It was nice in the sun but frigid in the shade and when the wind blew. It’s nice to stay in and be cozy on a snowy winter day. That tea cup contains baked banana in case you wondered.

The birds ate hungrily from the feeder and the ground around it so Scout had an exhausting day keeping tabs on them through the window.

He hardly even had time for a nap!

A snowy day feels different to me. Quieter. Cozier. It makes me extra grateful for my warm home, pantry full of supplies and a desk by the window.

Tomorrow I’ll show you more pictures of the bridge.

Still Waiting For Snow

This winter has been extremely mild. So mild, in fact, that we’ve hardly seen any snow. Everyone is ecstatic except for me.

Ohio is bleak and ugly in the winter time. Trees are stripped of leaves. The grass is dead and things are muddy because we’ve seen lots of rain in lieu of snow. It’s depressing.

Snow makes everything look pretty, as though the world has been tucked in for a long nap under a fluffy white blanket. One of my favorite pastimes is stomping around in it with my camera, trying to find new ways to make the trees and hills of my yard look fresh and new in pictures.

I also enjoy hiking in it.

And, of course, spending a quiet weekend cozied up with a book in a chair where I can glance up at the falling snow Is nice too.

We often have snow for Martin Luther King weekend so I was hopeful. Nope. More rain.

So I continue to wait. . .

An Unreasonable Attachment To An Old Barn

My dad built this little shed when I was a kid. I played in there some over the years and it has stored all sorts of things that we probably shouldn’t have kept for so long. You can’t see it from this angle but it’s falling in. It may sound silly to you but I couldn’t humiliate the old girl by photographing her bad side.

I live in the country where a lack of zoning and an endless list of things to do make it easy for packrats like my dad (ahem, and myself too) to let things go for too long. Now, my mother is making my dad clean up his junk and this little building is soon to be on the chopping block.

For the last several years, I have spent snow days wandering around the yard photographing the same darn things over and over again from different angles and with varying light. This will likely be my last snowfall with my old shed and I’m a little nostalgic about it.

But time marches on and a good gust of wind or heavy snow might just take it down for us. It’s time for it to be put out of its misery. Is there something in your life that you personify to the point of unreasonable emotional attachment? I can’t be alone! Tell me about it in the comments!