Snow day – was the echo that filled the empty class room space in the studio yesterday! Snow day is the theme today!
We have been blessed with our first blizzard this winter. This is hard to believe for Saskatchewan where we have been spoiled by a mild winter with glorious sunshine and above seasonal temperatures. All this came to a screeching halt yesterday when I was woken at 6:10 am. My cell phone indicated that a message had just arrived. My design students from Weyburn were inquiring whether there would be a class. They had followed the less than pleasant weather predictions. I tuned the TV to the weather station. This took some time as I rarely make myself watch reports of snow, storms and inaccurate predictions. A text to my student in Swift Current did not yield an immediate response but to make a long story short: By 7:15 am the decision was reached to postpone class to next Saturday.
The rare gift of a day not completely planned had presented itself unexpectedly and I took the opportunity to let myself drift a little. The blizzard arrived by 10:45 am. Snowflakes were dancing, driven by the strong winds which made for poor visibility all around. A few brave ice fishermen, sheltered by their ice fishing huts lasted until the early afternoon, after which the lake and our community appeared to have fallen into a deep beauty sleep.
Sometime during the afternoon I felt the need for color in the otherwise grey environment and found a beautiful flower on my Christmas cactus, blooming exactly 2 months late and a true gift of nature on a blustery snow day!
This morning the snow has stopped and for a brief time the sun was hard at work to brake through the cloud cover. I was fortunate to witness the ten minutes of golden light against the bare tree branches in our yard. The sound of shovels pushing snow aside to clear a path, the high pitch of a distant snow mobile on its way to drill a new hole in the ice to cast a line and, birds chirping around the freshly filled feeder are bringing my snowy Sunday into focus. The slideshow shares images of my experiences over the past 24 hours.
I will close today’s post with a quote by Claes Oldenburg: “Art is a technique of communication.The image is the most complete technique of all communication!”
The last word: Remember to sign up as a follower to the blog if you have not done so. The draw for the hand-dyed fabrics and the art work (see Jan. 15th for details) is coming up on March 1st – a mere 4 1/2 days away! Good luck to all of you who have signed up and those of you who might add your names to the list over the next few days!
Anna Hergert, Art & Design 
Your descriptions of a Saskatchewan blizzard were right on, made me so happy not to have to deal with it anymore. Our snow comes fast and furious, the size of loonies, and so silent. Covers the trees in the forest behind us, the grass and road. Half an hour later when we cancel our plans the rain comes and the snow disappears. -5 and no snow, bright sunshine today. Some embroidery is calling my name.
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Looks like a lovely winter day in Canada. I love the photos with the sun behind the branches. That’s one scene we don’t get here…. no trees, just bushes.
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Lovely photos!! I’ve recently been in contact with some family in Saskatchewan- hopefully I can co-ordinate a visit there next year with a workshop at your studio!!
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Great images Anna! Our blizzard, the first one for this year , arrived today and it snowed and blew fiercely most of the day ! It was absoluetly beautiful ! You can hardly tell that my heart is still attached to northern Manitoba ! Sorry now that I did not go out with my camera but after church it was a good day to be on the inside looking out ! I worked on some Franklin’s gulls I am creating and crocheted a mitt ( that will end up going to the Ukraine with a friend who is going there to be a missionary in an orphanage ) , while watching the women’s National curling final . It was a good day all around !
Joyce
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Good for you to embrace the day! I am afraid I was not as wise. Instead my day was as unsettled as the weather and I accomplished nothing! But the storm appears to be over. Now just the clean up. Snow shoveling, clearing highways, etc. Looks like the forecast for next weekend is good (if you can believe in it). See you next Saturday!
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My day wasn’t as productive as you may think… I was all set to teach and my mind was focused on that. finding something else was not difficult but much less fun! I had computer work to do… so much for fondling fabric.
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Beautiful pics Anna. Wish we had some snow here.
Cathy
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We are happy to send you some… we have lovely piles along the drive way and the roads. 😉
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