Phénomènes hivernaux

It's supposed to start snowing here any minute now, according to the weather report I just heard on Télématin. In fact, the reporter said that it is already snowing in our département, le Loir-et-Cher. Maybe I should go look out the window. It's still pitch dark outside.

Here are some photos I took out in the back yard one week ago today. We have patches of wild or "escapee" cyclamens all around the yard. They flower in January and February, like these.

We also have an artichoke plant that puts up new leaves in December and January. We planted five of them something like 10 years ago, but three of them didn't survive for very long. The one in this photo seems to be very hardy. There's another one, not pictured, that is surviving but not thriving.

This is the pond in wintertime. It's not in our back yard, but just outside our back gate. It's public property, owned and maintained by the commune (our village authorities). It's pretty full right now because we've had a lot of rain. It hasn't yet overflowed the way it does at some point in most winters.

Yesterday morning it was cloudy or foggy and we couldn't see the moon until just before it was about to sink below the horizon. Here's a picture of it I took through the branches of the linden tree (tilleul) in our back yard.

I just opened a window and stuck my hand out. The moon is shining brightly. The air feels sort of sparkly. It felt like freezing fog to me. It might turn into snow or it might not. We are at the far southern edge of the Loir-et-Cher, so it might be snowing in more northerly parts of the département.