Let it snow!

It finally snowed! After almost 2 months of "winter" without any hint of snow, the hysterical predictions of a snow apocalypse came true and we got about 8 or 10 inches of snow in Washington, DC. Of course growing up in Buffalo that was a pretty typical snowfall; we would have to shovel the snow and then catch the schoolbus! But here in Washington, DC even an inch or two can paralyze the entire metropolitan area. If this snow had fallen during the week, everything would have been cancelled, the federal government would have shut down, and all the schools would have been closed for a week.

After shoveling the front steps, front walk, back deck and back steps (now I remember why I don't live in Buffalo any more!) I went out and took a few photos. First a picture of my precious hardy palms; the large one on the right is my 2 year old windmill palm (Trachycarpus fortunei "Taylor form"), and to the left the three smaller ones are my 4 year old waggies (T. wagnerianus); to the left of that, right next to the bench, is my clump of hardy bananas (Musa basjoo):



;^)

(They really are under there, by the way.) But more seriously, here's how my back yard looked from the upstairs windows:



What a difference a few months can make! Here's the same view last August:



Fresh snow really does make everything look beautiful and clean, even in the city! Here's a shot of my neighbor's trees a few doors down as seen from the back deck (one on the left is a Kentucky coffee tree, a bit of an oddity in the city, and the contorted one to the right is an enormous Paulownia that sends me millions of seeds, and seedlings, every year):



This is a view from my front windows upstairs, looking across the street:



with a closeup of that gorgeous tree (I think it's an elm, but I'm not certain):



and finally, a view looking down the street; one thing I like about Washington, DC in general and my neighborhood in particular is that there are lots of trees, which makes it nice and green and shady in the summer, but also makes for some nice winter views when it snows: