We happen to live on a rather steep hill. Funny thing, it seemed somehow steeper today with snow on it. It's a very disconcerting feeling to keep pressing the brakes on a car and nothing happens! Thank heaven for four-wheel drive. Our turn off is half way down the hill, and I had no idea whether or not I would be able to make the turn. To complicate matters, our neighbor was turning out of the lane I needed to turn into. Well, I made it but also learned a lesson. Local people here know what they're talking about! We had been repeatedly warned about this hill and how we would need studded tires. I kept thinking well, we'll see. We're used to driving in snow. Our car now has studded tires on it!
Right now, just a few days before daylight savings time ends, the sun rises here about 9:20. The thing is, the dawn is very short. It's pitch black until 8:30. One has no idea of the time when waking up. The sun sets about 6:10 and goes out with amazing but quick glory. This evening was no exception. I kept running in and out the door to take pictures of the various stages of gorgeousness. See below and multiply by ten because cameras can't begin to capture the colors or sense of magnificence.
It feels like winter set in very quickly. Another story locals told us was that when we look at a certain mountain peak across the bay and see an outline of a panda bear, snow would fall on this side of the bay quickly thereafter. We watched and watched and saw nothing looking like a panda. It kept snowing on that side of the bay, not ours. Well, guess what? Today we saw the panda. It snowed here most of the day! Don't know if the panda was there yesterday because the bay and mountains on the other side were shrouded in cloud most of the day.
But my guess is that we would have seen it if the clouds had lifted. The locals know!
