We were told that temperatures were going to get down to freezing and some areas would get snow during the night, so I was not surprised to see our morning landscape powdered with snow.

The grosbeaks – who just migrated into our area – must have thought, “What have I gotten into by flying north?”

It wasn’t anything new for the blue jays because they had been here all winter.

The full moon was high in the western sky when I went outside at 5 am.

I had just purchased this the day before – and probably should have put it in the garage overnight.

It is next to the house, so hopefully it will survive the cold.

This leaf looked pretty in the snow-covered yard.

Our rhododendron and azalea were in full bloom and suffered from the freezing temperatures.

The petals were ice-covered.

The shrubs will survive just fine.

Our patio chair and table look cold.

Our son Jeff called about 3:30 pm to tell us to look out the window and be prepared for a quick snow flurry. (They live about six miles west of us.) It was fun watching it come across the fields.

The flurry did not go by our house, but we could see it going by the farm – a quarter mile away – where our niece Karen, her husband and family live. A few stray snowflakes blew by our house.

As I watched the flurry head south, I realized that I don’t often take pictures this direction and noticed that we can easily see Karen’s sister Amy’s house this time of year. Kevin and Amy recently moved here – after his parents moved to a new house on the edge of the property. Now the sister’s are on adjoining farms. 🙂

Just as quickly as the snow went through it was gone to the east.